Ranma/ Burning Rangers; 'Burning Sky'
by WFROSE
Summary: Ranma's future is redone, as a vicious and fateful fire changes it's course. Several years later, that very change may save the world... (Complete and finally did some editing to each chapter ^_^)
1. Prologue

Ranma nimbly dodged the flaming debris as he rushed his way through the rapidly crumbling halls of Furinkan High. His voice was already raspy from the combination of smoke inhalation and screaming her name out. He prayed he wouldn't falter as his vocal cords have; he was Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of martial arts..  
  
  
He could not fail, not for her...  
  
  
Ranma raced for the stairwell and flung open the door, just barely flaring his soul of ice technique to protect him from the back draft of the flames as hyper exited molecules met with fresh oxygen. Rolling along the ground, Ranma spared no time to check himself as he leapt through a closed window. Ranma turned and snagged the windowsill and flared his hand with ki.  
  
"Akane, just hold on, I'm coming," Ranma voiced as loud as his strained throat would allow him. He slammed a ki charged fist into the wall of the school, making a handhold, then with the other hand repeated the process until he was to the third floor. Ranma had been methodically scouring each floor for Akane, assisting any survivors he came across, but not allowing them to impede his progress. Akane's friend Yuka had told Ranma that Akane, Shampoo, and Ukyo had gone back in floors to help rescue the people trapped up there. Ranma swore under his breath, it would be like them to do something so foolish and selfless, just like him. He idly wondered if his charisma was a bigger curse than what Jusenkyo had stuck him with.  
  
Ranma broke open the window to the third and final floor. Ignoring the cuts from the glass, he deftly swung himself into the hall and almost slipped on a piece of cloth on the ground. A quick glance turned Ranma's blood cold, despite the blazing heat around him. One of Ryoga's headbands, and his umbrella lying near a pile of flaming wreckage. As much of a nuisance as the lost boy could be, Ranma prayed that Ryoga was lost somewhere other than under that pyre.  
  
With lightning speed, Ranma broke through several doors, briefly scanning each room for anyone. As he made it to his twelfth door, he found himself bound in chains that secured him thoroughly.  
  
"Ran... Saotome...you don't want to look behind that," Mousse had actually arrived ahead of time, entering from the roof instead of the ground floor. He had gotten there in time to hear the screams of several women and men who could not make it out in time, as the already strained door frame collapsed, trapping several in there.  
  
With as much strength as his oxygen-starved muscles could spare, Ranma managed to break the chains in a Herculean effort, and used his Mouku Takabisha to break through the barrier...  
  
His screams were no less anguished, as Mousses had been just a minute prior...  
  
  
_____________________________________________________________________  
  
  
"Ranma, drop time in one minute," Saotome shook himself from his reverie, looked towards the large black man, and gave a curt nod. Big Landman nodded back once he was sure Ranma was focused. Though it was a routine mission, it wouldn't do to have any of the Rangers under his guard.  
  
The airship jolted slightly from the launching of the light polymer torpedoes. The three launched missiles struck home and a white flimsy foam substance spread over the flames and snuffed them out.  
  
"Okay, point secure, everyone out and stay sharp," Big shouted and leapt from the Burning Ship, his paraglide igniting and slowing his decent down. Next followed a luscious brunette whose hair lightly curled and was cut to just about her neckline, and her skin tight red, white, and blue outfit accentuated the point of her womanhood. Courtney leapt out and glided to her destined arrival point, as her task included arriving to the lab's control room where she would rescue anyone in there and operate the facility controls so they did not inhibit the rest of the team. Ranma and Mousse were the last two out, their task to rescue as many survivors as they came across and blaze containment.  
  
"You all set Mousse?"  
  
"I'm set Ranma, just worry about your back."  
  
Ranma gave his trademark smirk as he and Mousse dove out of the transport and into the Fire below....  
  
  
Ranma/Burning Rangers  
  
Burning Sky  
  
  
"Burning Hearts" (Theme to Burning Rangers) would be perfect at this point ;) 


	2. Stage 1; Experimental Fusion Laboratory ...

Sense a Split Second  
  
Cherish the Life  
  
Have Goddess on your wings...  
  
  
Ranma and Mousse hit the ground roughly the same time. Without spoken commands, Ranma took to the left entrance, Mousse heading right. Barely pausing, Ranma activated the entry lock and squeezed through the opening doors  
  
Mousse pulled out an integrity destabilizer bomb and tossed it against the reinforced steel doors. A loud screech was heard over the chaos already ensued as the doors buckled and gave way, allowing the Burning Ranger entrance.  
______________________________________________  
  
Ranma darted to and fro, careful not to step where it seemed the floor was weakest, and simultaneously dodging falling debris. Despite his spry steps, Ranma could feel the ground unsteadily shifting below his feet, shaking like a small quake was prominent.  
  
"Emmanuel, any life signs around me?"  
  
"[Si, Saotome, up the corridor and to your left]," replied a heavily Hispanic voice through the earphone. Ranma gathered himself to go faster, just as a large piece of ceiling came crashing down in front of him.  
  
"Shoot," exclaimed Ranma as the whole floor gave way, crashing into the next one below it. Saotome managed to leap just in time, and used his jump thrusters to make it to the corridor juncture.  
  
"Anybody in here?" Ranma yelled out, his voice easily carrying over the sounds of crumbling structure and rumbling flames around him. He caught the weak reply just above him to his left.  
______________________________________________  
  
Mousse skillfully navigated the flaming and wrecked terrain, weary of the large combustible tanks through out the room. Once he figured himself a safe distance away, He charged up his pulse rifle and fired it on one of the tanks amidst the cluster of gas containers. The chain reaction was almost instantaneous as each one burst into a flaming gas ball. Moving quickly, Mousse used his pulse to turn the flames into energy crystals needed to power his personal force field and power the survivor transport teleportation units. Once the access energy was gathered, Mousse headed towards the door at the far end of the massive room.  
______________________________________________  
  
Ranma started to the direction he heard the call, when his finely honed martial senses screaming him to alertness. The Martial Artist turned Firefighter back flipped just in time to avoid an explosion that ruptured from the wall next to where he had been standing. A few shots from his pulse rifle extinguished the flame and left energy crystals in their wake. Once the coast was clear, without the jump thrusters, Ranma made a 25-foot leap to the above platform.  
  
"Are, are you here to save me?" asked the woman. As far as Ranma could see, she didn't have any injuries, but it was best he got her out of there quick.  
  
"Relax Ma'am, I'm a Burning Ranger. I'll have you out of here in a second." With that, Ranma touched the woman on the arm, and a cylinder of energy appeared around her. Ranma's confident smile calmed the woman out of her temporary panic and she was transported to safety.  
  
"[Good, we got the first one Saotome. Big will be there to assist you with the task of putting out the fires near you and securing the structure, since you seem to be in the most dangerous area]," Stated Emmuel.  
  
"[Just like you Saotome, putting your life at the most risk just to upstage the rest of us]," Joked Mousse's voice over the radio, "What would your wife have to say about that?"  
  
"Nothing, because she isn't gonna find out, RIGHT Mousse?"  
  
"[On the task at hand, you two, this isn't the time for implied threats]," Came Big's voice over both of their earpieces. "Most of the survivors managed to get themselves into safety holdings, only a few managed to get trapped in here."  
  
"[No more rescuees in your area Ranma, switch to containing the fire until Mousse clears the last two trapped in his area]."  
  
"Kay 'Manuel, Big, I won't need you back here then, go help Mousse." Ordered Ranma  
  
"[Just who is in charge here, Ranma]?" questioned Big's voice with a bit of mirth, "[I was already on my way, you may as well head up here and assist, worrying about containment is almost worthless right now]."  
  
"Roger that," replied Ranma. "Courtney, long time no speak, everything okay for you?"  
  
"[Doors are opening for you when you need em, aren't they, cutie]?"  
  
'Funny, thought it was because I was saying 'Open sesame'."  
  
A quintuple of groans were heard over Ranma's earpiece  
  
"[Do us a favor, just look gorgeous and leave the bad jokes to the TV sitcoms]."  
  
"Don't you ever get tired of hitting on me? I'm a married man and you have a boyfriend"  
  
"Well, I can convince Shou not to mind if you can convince your wife to share"  
  
"[All right now, cut the chatter you two, Mousse I have you covered now]."  
  
"[Thank you, but I am about done here, Big]."  
  
"[Ey! Chica! You loca? Leggo]!!!"  
  
All four Rangers on the field paused hearing Emmanuel struggle with someone over their headsets.  
  
"[Can anyone hear me? Hello? Hello]?"  
  
"[Who is this]?" Asked Big cautiously  
  
"[Diane Joyfield, I'm the director of this facility. You need to get down to the sub basement and...]"  
  
A loud blast cut off the director.  
  
"[Sorry, had to put out a hot one, you were saying]?" inquired Mousse  
  
"[In the sub basement, there is an experiment we didn't have time to shut down manually, and the auto falter had failed]."  
  
"[I presume that there's more to this than just a simple lab experiment]?" Questioned Big, he already knew he wasn't going to like the response.  
  
"[Correct, we were experimenting with fusion in solar capacity. One of the generators for the project overloaded and started the whole mess]."  
  
"[If you were experimenting with Solar Fusion, then....]" Big trailed off, once he spoke again, his voice sounded much graver, "[How much Hydrogen do you have in this facility]?"  
  
"[....Enough to leave to leave a hole that makes Meteor Crater look like a punch bowl...]"  
  
"[We won't have enough time to get everyone to safety if the explosion is that big]," Stated Mousse rather nervously.  
  
"[Then we'll just have to solve the problem at the other end. Courtney, what can you do]?"  
  
"[I found the power routers to a large energy usage, sir, but I can't disconnect them]," exclaimed Courtney.  
  
"That just means someone has to get down there and turn it off, huh?" Ranma's cocky attitude may have been grating at times, but in many cases, such as this one, it did well to boost morale.  
  
"[I guess you have a new objective, Ranma. Mousse, try to meet him down there for assistance, I'll take over for you here]." with that, Big cut communications off as he started to his task.  
  
"[Understood, on my way, Ranma]," replied Mousse  
  
________________________________________________  
  
With reflexes honed from years of Martial arts, Mousse and Ranma navigated towards the elevator shaft via the path laid out by each of them by the team coordinator, Emmanuel. Both reached the shaft at about the same time, pried the doors open, and jumped down.  
  
"We can't open this door, it's holding back a heavy back draft," Commented Mousse as the reached the bottom of the elevator corridor and noted the red-hot door.  
  
"Right, get to the floor above it, and we'll drop an ID bomb down the hole to knock for us."  
  
Ranma and Mousse leapt to the second floor, Ranma using his martial arts refined strength to kick the door shutter doors open. Both he and Mousse stood off to the sides as Mousse pulled out another bomb and dropped it down the shaft. Both ducked further away as a blast escaped through the entrance they had come through.  
  
Noting the coast finally clear, both Rangers dropped back down and grimaced at the site. Barely any room was left for maneuvering in the corridor ahead of them. Flames and wreckage compiled everywhere as if forbidding any passage.  
  
Ranma smirked at the challenge before him, "Mousse, think my female side can make it through?"  
  
"Just enough room."  
  
"Good, water tank."  
  
Mousse handed Ranma the water tank. Ranma concentrated on it and used his chi to cool the water within down before quickly deactivating his personal energy shield and dousing himself.. Onna-Ranma then reactivated her shield and removed the Jump thrusts from her.  
  
"Okay, doctor lady, just tell me what I have to do"  
  
____________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma's superhuman reflexes allowed her to twist, leap, and dodge though the tighter spots; her pulse rifle cleared a little more breathing room. Ranma turned down the hall and back flipped out of the way of a sudden eruption, dashed forward from another one behind her, then leapt straight into the air and grabbed a ledge above her as a third one erupted right where she had been.  
  
"Area's becoming increasingly unstable," Ranma said to himself out loud. After a few more close calls, Ranma made it to the lab control deck itself.  
  
"Shoot, none of the controls are responding!"  
  
"[What? Ranma, we're pulling you out of there then if there's nothing you can do]."  
  
"Big, no, I have an idea, just get the ship as far as you can with the survivors you have right now..." Ranma looked towards the long funnel where the project was being held. It was still rotating and was unstable, but it had dropped in power level. At the end of the funnel was what rotated it, if she could just jam it...  
  
____________________________________________________________________  
  
"Um, is that young woman INSANE?" exclaimed Dr. Joyfield as she looked from the display monitor and incredulously towards the three Burning Rangers on the transport.  
  
"[No, he's Ranma Saotome, and he never fails]," Said Mousse over the intercom.  
  
"Um, pardon me, but 'he'?"  
  
____________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma grumbled as she dashed through the elongated washing machine from Hell, dodging errant flames and wreckage as she held a boulder a little more than half her size in front of her. She ducked behind the rock as a slightly unmaneverable ball of flame struck her makeshift shield, while fighting to keep her footing as the tunnel turned over and over.  
  
A quarter of a mile down below her, the wreckage and debris being shaken off the tunnel as it did turn began to pile up, indenting the floor and buckling it to the point of collapse, right into the several hundred tons of highly compressed hydrogen being held beneath.  
  
____________________________________________________________________  
  
A large beam struck the rock Ranma was holding head on, sending her tumbling onto her butt.  
  
"[Ranma, we don't have much more time]," yelled Big, interference causing static in the line, though it did not fail the get the urgency through.  
  
Ranma didn't reply, just picked herself up while still holding the boulder, hefted it over her head, and tossed it with all her girl form's might towards the end of the tunnel. After ricocheting off several pieces of wreckage, it struck home.  
  
As the sound of metal rendering and twisting became more prominent, Ranma realized a slight problem.  
  
"Oh... darn...." Ranma exclaimed as she turned and tried to dash out of the funnel. The supports tore away from the tunnel, and with nothing holding that end up, it came crashing down towards the ground.  
  
Just below it, several beams collapsed, forming a catch for the tunnel, just above the ground.  
  
____________________________________________________________________  
  
"[GET ME OUT OF HERE]!!!!" Emmanuel pulled his ear away from his headphone and grimaced at the volume.   
  
"Okay okay, no need to get exited! Madre, you yell loud!"  
  
Without any further delay, he locked onto his fellow teammate's location and pulled her out.  
  
Ranma looked slightly disheveled, her eyes unfocused and dazed. Courtney exclaimed how she could almost see the cartoonish spirals in her eyes.  
  
"Well, now that Daredevil here is back, let's put some distance between us and this place, and contact the cleanup crew to handle the rest." commented Big, not bothering to hide the relief in his voice.  
  
______________________________________________________________________  
  
In the lab, the makeshift frame supporting the funnel began to warp under the weight of all the debris...  
  
______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Si, all survivors accounted for, send a demolitions squad out to take care of the...."  
  
The ship surged and wavered in the after wake of the explosion as a new not-so-natural monument was formed via massive amounts of explosive gas stuck just hard enough.  
  
"Eh, heh heh.... no need to hurry on that, aye?"  
  
"You do realize that this is your fault, Saotome, correct?" commented Mousse.  
  
Ranma just gave a nervous chuckle.  
  
______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Honey, I'm hoooooome! Heh, I love saying that," Ranma walked in and set his gym bag on the ground as he slipped out of his shoes and into slippers  
  
"Papa!" Can a young boy's voice from down the hall.  
  
"Hey squirt, think you can take your ol' man now?" mocked Ranma, he was proud of his son Ukyo, and trained him thoroughly from the time he could start walking. With his job now, most of the teaching had come from Ranma's father and Cologne.  
  
Ukyo opened up with a flying kick, in which Ranma caught him by the leg and held him upside down. Ranma frowned at the opening move and was about to start lecturing his son about such a sloppy mistake, when he felt a doubled fist strike his chin.  
  
"Ha, Pops, you fight like a girl!" mocked Ukyo as he moved into a defensive stance  
  
"Very sneaky, who taught you that one?" Asked Ranma  
  
"Mama."  
  
"Oh, but..."  
  
"Dears, there is a perfectly good dojo out back, why not carry your sparring match out there and leave the rest of the house intact?" interrupted Mrs. Saotome. No matter how long he had been married to her, Ranma's day was always made when he came home to her.  
  
"Mom, you're smart! How come you don't do martial arts?" Asked Ukyo  
  
Both Ranma and his wife traded slightly disturbed glances at each other, "You're mother, wasn't the martial artist of the family," replied Nabiki somberly.  
  
"Oh, that was Aunty Akane, right? I wish I coulda met her," commented Ukyo, not realizing the old wounds he opened up.  
  
"Yeah, I wish you could have too," replied Ranma, his eyes downcast just a bit, then perked up and remembered a previous comment, "Fight like a girl? Did your Granddad teach you that?"  
  
"Er, yeah, did I say something bad?" asked Ukyo rather coyly.  
  
"When you see what your grandmother does to him when she finds out where you got that from, you decide," Ranma stated with a chuckle  
  
"Ooh, how about we tell Great Grandmother Cologne too?" the young boy had decided a while back he enjoyed seeing his grandfather in pain, it was funny.  
  
Ranma frowned and looked as his child, "Now that wouldn't be very nice." Then Ranma shrugged "I'll tell her first thing tomorrow"  
  
"That's good, she wanted to talk to you whenever you got the chance, Ranma," replied Nabiki from the kitchen.  
  
"Oh? What did she want?" inquired Ranma as he walked into the kitchen and put his arms around his wife's waist.  
  
"Mmm, she didn't say, didn't sound urgent though," Nabiki turned in his arms and met him with a light peck on the lips. Suddenly she twisted up her nose, "you stink, Mr. Saotome"  
  
"Yeah, hot water in the gym showers was out again, and didn't feel like being ogled by a bunch of men today." Ranma knew it wasn't an accident that the hot water didn't work; in fact he didn't have to have anyone tell him that they were out. At least once every so often for a cheap thrill, some guys would sabotage them. All Ranma had to do was look out for the days nobody showered.  
  
Nabiki got a smoldering smile on her face as she put her arms around her husband's neck, "hmm, you know? I think I could use one too, I had been working hard at the office, and can use a nice, nude soak."  
  
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Ranma was liking the direction this conversation was turning.  
  
"It would just make my day for a good, strong pair of hands working the kinks out of my back. I feel so... knotty right now," the look Nabiki was throwing Ranma told him that 'knotty' was not the word she meant."  
  
"So, when do we go bathe?" asked the pig-tailed firefighter eagerly.  
  
"You can bathe as soon as I'm done," with that, Nabiki dumped the glass of water in her hand over her husband's head  
  
Onna-Ranma blinked a couple of times, and then looked up to adjust for the height difference between her and Nabiki, "huh?"  
  
"And, you're sleeping on the couch, Misses"  
  
Ranma let out a sigh, "Mousse told you?"  
  
"No, Big did. He said if he was going to have to suffer through the committee for letting that place go sky high, you were going to swing as well"  
  
"Hey, the place was going to go kingdom come anyhow! What's the big deal?"  
  
"Did you even bother trying to find another way," asked Nabiki wryly  
  
"Uh, there wasn't enough time?" Ranma sounded as if she was now also trying to convince herself.  
  
"Uh huh, and that's the reason you're not sleeping out in the dojo instead," replied Nabiki with a smile. "Oh, and one last thing, tell Courtney I don't like to share," With that, Mrs. Saotome winked and only slightly hesitatingly pulled herself out of the smaller woman's arms.  
  
Ranma watched her wife head upstairs to get her supplies for the furo. When Akane and the others died on that fateful day, Nabiki was as emotional a wreck as he was. While Ranma nearly shut himself down, almost having to be told to breath, Nabiki became a sobbing shell of her former self. She had no one to turn to, as Kasumi was just so devastated that she became oblivious to any wrong in the world, and their father had to be put temporarily in an institution.  
  
One night the following week, Ranma contemplated ending it all, without Akane, his will to live just wasn't there. Over his own musings he heard someone crying in the same despair that he felt, and suddenly his ears picked up on the tell tale sound of a blade being extracted from rice paper.  
  
Ranma knew what the sound of a drawn tanto was, and while for duty that he was going to end his life (or that is what he convinced himself of anyhow), he would be damned if he would let another Tendou daughter die so soon.  
  
Ranma dashed into the Tendou house and into Nabiki's room, where he arrived just in time to grasp onto the blade before it plunged into Nabiki's neck. After a bit of consoling the distraught girl, Nabiki confessed that Akane's death had shown her what her life of lies and dealings had left her worth. Ranma was very adamant about Nabiki's value to her family and to the world, one thing leading to another, and...  
  
A little over nine months later, Ukyo was born, and the Saotome and Tendou lines were joined.  
  
Ranma now did not consider giving up his life; he had a child to take care of, and a wife to be strong for. After a while Ranma grew to love Nabiki almost as much as Akane, possibly exceeding it, as Nabiki over time gained her confidence back. Eventually Nabiki returned his love that she had been trying to hide away from, and with that return of love, Nabiki went through a final change.  
  
Ranma stared wistfully after the exit of her wife. If she could do it again, she wouldn't hesitate, and she would do it again, and again...  
  
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{Howdy! Though I never write author notes (because I well past too damn lazy), I just wanted to get a little feedback on this lil' here project. Trying to create a fanfic that with video game based objectives with a Burning Rangers type storyline (play the game to get what I'm working at), yet still keep it Ranma. Lemme know how it's turning out} 


	3. Stage 2; Chemical Plant Inferno

Ranma stood poised and calm in his uniform bodysuit surrounded by flames, and after accessing the situation, he began a dance. During his Burning Rangers training, it was emphasized that fire was a living entity. It ate, it drank, it breathed, and it behaved unpredictably and maliciously.  
  
A tendril of flame lashed out at the martial artist, intending to begin its feast on flesh. To its chagrin, it found its flow of energy suddenly cut by a blade hand, stunting it. With a graceful glide, Saotome spun around and lashed out with a wide crescent kick that didn't touch the approaching fire, but extinguished the assailant with its harsh wind trail.  
  
Ranma back flipped into the air and landed in a safer position, though found the fires around him fast approaching. Spinning to his left, Ranma whipped out his right hand with a cry, "REPPUKEN!" An almost invisible rolling disturbance of air cut a path through in which Ranma dashed through. His arms moved in a complex pattern that would make any Wushu practitioner envious; concentrating on keeping his arms and legs cold with the soul of ice, and disallowing any ember to touch him. A particularly large wall of flame lumbered over him. Ranma cupped his hands together and shifted into a horse stance, then thrust them forward, calling out the technique name, "GACHIGACHIHA!" Ranma's ki imposed his will upon the air, commanding exited air molecules to cease all movement temporarily, causing the towering pyre to wink out of existence. A few flakes of ice from frozen particles in the air were all that was left in the wake.  
  
"TOU MAYOKO WANGETSU KEN!" The pigtailed firefighter spread his arms in a wide horizontal arc, a thin line of ice cold ki raced forth, freezing the air around it and slicing through a quarter of the flames around him, snuffing them out of existence. Next move he would use is a variation of the Hiryuu Shoten Ha that Cologne had worked with him on, but he had something new.   
  
Leaping as high as he could into the air, Ranma once again brought his hands to the front of him, and concentrated hard. The leap was to ensure the flame wasn't able to capture him suddenly, as the sudden onrush of air started towards his hands. Ranma began his descend, right into the center of the biggest part of what was left of the inferno. "OKIBI KIREME!!!"  
  
An explosion, loud enough to be considered a sonic boom of a jetfighter rang out, as Ranma struck the ground hard with his hands aimed downward, a nimbus of air spread from him throughout the room. Any of the rest of the fire fell before the explosion of air; it's feral hunger no match for the gale force winds that sought to overwhelm the ancient menace.  
  
Ranma looked around the room, and spotted one lone flame, rather pathetic looking, seeking to intimidate the seasoned firefighter. With but a finger, Ranma shot a thin beam of ice blue ki that callously snuffed out the last of the weakened terror, ending his training exercise.  
  
"Added a couple of new moves, I see Saotome," replied Big from the entryway to the training room.  
  
"Yeah, but that last one is hardly practical at the moment for anything other than a large contained outdoor fire. I got a few ideas for variations of it though."  
  
"That's good to hear, your martial arts talents are a great asset to the Rangers. Why you here so early anyhow."  
  
Ranma threw a half lidded glare at his team captain, which only served to amuse the large black man, "Well, no thanks to you, I ended up spending the night on the couch. Didn't get much sleep so I thought I would come by and get an early morning workout before heading over to Joketzuko."  
  
"Oh? What is it for this time?" inquired Big, always interested in Ranma's duties to his adopted tribe.  
  
"Dunno, but it doesn't sound too important. I should be back before evening if I'm needed for anything."  
  
"Don't worry about it, Blue squad is on guard, we're doing backup today. Oh, BTW, this mail seems to be addressed to you."  
  
"Arigatou," Ranma took the handful of mail, one of the perks of being a Burning Ranger was the fan mail and mail from grateful people he had rescued on his many missions. "Gives me something to read on the way to the village."  
  
"Well you better go get ready, far be it from you to neglect your Matriarch-in-training duties," Big's smirk dropped when Ranma turned a full annoyed glare towards him  
  
"Quiet you, I can still have that kiss of marriage reinstated. T'chi Pei has been rather forlorn since I wouldn't allow her to interfere with the duties of her 'airen'."  
  
"Ahem, well I believe we got a new stock of carbo-polymer torpedoes to load onto the Burning Ship."  
  
Ranma just shook his head as he watched his commander leave to avoid an awkward situation. He had great respect for the African native; he was the most seasoned of all the Burning Rangers on any of the two squads. He was rightfully commander of the Red Squad, and arguably the most mature of them all, other than Chris Parton, commander of the Blue Squad. But sometimes....  
  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
Three hours later, Ranma's transport arrived at the designated landing site for his visits to the Joketzuko village. Cologne sat passively on her staff, awaiting her heir.  
  
Onna-Ranma stepped out in her Amazonian garb, complete with leather breast armor. It wasn't necessary, but she always felt that she owed Cologne and her fellow Amazons the respect.  
  
"Ranma, my child, I trust your trip was uneventful?" enquired the current reigning Matriarch.  
  
"Yeah, just got to catch up on some raving fan mail, Kami, I'm so popular," Replied the Red headed woman with a smirk  
  
"I would hope so, it would have to take a multitude of fans to support the weight your ego," mused Cologne almost thoughtfully.  
  
"Heh, that's for su... HEY!"  
  
"That's my heir, quick to lay her life on the line, but slow on the uptake, speaking of which..." Cologne then narrowed her eyes into a glare at Ranma, making her take a step back in slight nervousness.  
  
"Wha? What's wrong this time?"  
  
Ranma managed to block the first attempt, but was defenseless against Cologne's second as there was a meaty sound of tempered wood of her staff meeting with Ranma's head, "I heard about your last mission. Really, Grand Daughter, what were you thinking?"  
  
"Sigh, Big told you?" Ranma asked, rubbing the knot that was beginning to form on her head  
  
"No, Mousse, he said he had to tell someone about your foolishness. Anyhow, you are safe and we have other matters to attend to. Let us make to the village at once."  
  
Along the trail, Cologne made small talk with her protégé to pass the time. It wasn't a far walk, but it was one that did take a bit of time.  
  
"Seriously, do they truly think they can control the weather worldwide? To tamper with nature on such a massive scale is to court disaster."  
  
"Well, they managed to successfully build a prototype that worked perfectly in a test environment, now they just need to finish with the larger scale model. Though I do agree with ya, this isn't something to be taken lightly."  
  
"In any case, we have arrived," Cologne led Ranma into the Tribal Hall, a recently constructed building that Ranma had assisted in paying for and building. Many of the buildings of the village had been modernized due to Ranma's insistence. As Heir to Cologne's matriarchy, she was allowed important decisions to the tribe's welfare. Though many opposed the idea to modernizing the small village. The promise of central air for the meeting hall had won out.  
  
"Huh?" Ranma looked around, just realizing where they had stopped at, "the Tribal Hall? I thought this wasn't important?"  
  
"Oh, it's indeed important, just not urgent. Come now since we need to make an important decision that can't be made without you here."  
  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"I'm to WHAT?!?" The pigtailed woman wasn't pleased with the news.  
  
"Calm down Ranma, it's for the good of the tribe," chided Cologne, though her reprimand had no force behind it. This was going exactly how she expected it after all.  
  
"Old woman, I don't *have* time for this! I have other obligations to...."  
  
"And what... of your obligations to the tribe? As I recall, my protégé, you vowed that if the tribe ever needed you, you would MAKE time."   
  
"Bu-bu-bu... You know you can't do this you hag! Something like, HEY, watch it with that stick!"  
  
A few of the Amazon elders chuckled as Ranma managed to deflect all three attempts at his noggin by Cologne. She defiantly trained him well, much to the present Matriarch's chagrin.  
  
"Now, before I was so rudely interrupted, you coulda given me some advance warning about this!"  
  
Cologne smiled sweetly in her most innocent way possible, "But then it wouldn't have been such a pleasant surprise!"  
  
"This surprise is anything BUT pleasant, there just ain't no way I gonna be able to handle five trainee warriors on such short notice!"  
  
"Consider it training for when you become the ruler of the tribe," responded Cologne.  
  
"I never said that I WAS gonna be the next Matriarch, I just agreed to train under you!"  
  
"Their living quarters are already set up," Cologne continued as if she didn't her the indignant woman, "they'll stay in the old Nekohatan for the time being. I trust they'll have use of your dojo for practice?"  
  
Ranma sighed, she knew that this was a losing argument, "did Mu Tzu know about this?"  
  
"Why of course, he's 100% behind the idea and will help out in any way he can."  
  
"Right, and what did you blackmail him with," ventured Ranma.  
  
"That's not important. Come, is it that difficult..."  
  
Ranma's pager went off, "Darn, I have an emergency, we'll decide about this later."  
  
"Oh, it's already been decided, they'll be arriving today in Nerima. Your wife already is aware that they are coming.  
  
Ranma facefaulted on her attempt to rush out. She threw a piercing glare that unfazed the Kasumi-like smile plastered on the old woman's face.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"Hey, Big, I thought we weren't up for today?" Ranma said through to video comm., suiting herself up at the same time.   
  
"[We weren't, Blue team is handling a code red in the Cyperion Space station, we just got word of a massive chemical fire in France.]"  
  
"[Aye, this one's a hot one, chica. Reports of blue level flames dominating the place,]" Emmanuel's voice sounded its usual laid back tone. Though anyone who knew him could hear the worry laden within it.  
  
"Darn, I'll meet you there then. I'll probably arrive first, but I'll wait until you guys show up to, Ranma out."  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma stood silent as the other three field Rangers arrived onto the ground.  
  
"[Ranma, hola? Okay, here's the sitch. Cause of the fire is unknown, but it spread rapidly throughout the complex. Our task is to evacuate the skeleton crew that was working today that's trapped within the main control room. We can't hail them, but the room is showing thirty plus life signs. From what I gather, the escape protocol can't activate because it's jammed and won't allow the control room to launch to safety. First step is for Courtney and Mousse to get to the control room. You and Big will get down to the base and find out what's keeping it from launching and take care of it.]"  
  
"Got it, our entry point?"  
  
"[The place regulates it's temperatures via a giant water coolant system that circulates throughout the whole plant, you'll be able to enter through the an access pipe just 22 meters north of you. Courtney and Mousse will enter through the top of the structure's air vents, head left for a quarter of a mile, and exit the vent and follow hall 32X forward to the control room. Good luck guys.]"  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"We're exiting the water channel now," Reported Big, as he and Ranma leapt out of coolant channel, "Which way now?"  
  
"[To your right and down that hall.]"  
  
Ranma and Big rushed down the hall till they came to a forked hall, "'Manuel, which way, now?" asked Ranma.  
  
"[They both lead down to the base of the facility, either way will do.]"  
  
"Hmm, there's no telling which one is gonna impede us the most, Ranma, you take the left passage way, I'll take the right."  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"We're nearing the control room now, you weren't kidding about the flames here!" exclaimed the brunette woman as her and Mousse leapt in different directions as a ball of flame fell in their last position. Fortunately the ventilation shafts were large enough to maneuver to put out the flames, or neither would have made it with their skin still raw.  
  
"Indeed, there were a few close calls at times. How are Ranma and Big progressing, Emmanuel?"  
  
"[They split up for the time being, Ranma's path will allow him to get there a bit after Big, but they're on schedule.]"  
  
"Good, We're to the control room's doors, gonna take me a while to wire these open, I'll let you know when me and Mousse are in, Courtney out."  
  
"I could just use an IDB (integrity destabilizer bomb) to get us in, it would be much faster," commented Mousse as he went to the task of putting out fires that were closing in on their position.  
  
"These doors were made to prevent fire entry, with all the flames around here, keeping them around would be a good idea."  
  
"You are right about that, just try to work a bit faster," replied Mousse nervously, the flames weren't snuffing out as fast as he would have liked them to.  
  
"Well I would if you would stop jabbering, why are you so nervous anyhow cutie? 'Fraid of your goose getting cooked?"  
  
"More like duck flambé," responded the Chinese firefighter.  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"This is Ranma."  
  
"[There are some shutter doors to down to your left, but you'll need to find access panel to open them. They're...]"  
  
"No time for that," interrupted Ranma as he rounded the corner and spotted the steel shutter doors. "GATCHIGATCHIHA!"  
  
The Redhead's hands came in contact with the door, instantaneously freezing them to levels where matter ceased movement on an atomic level. The sudden extreme temperature change weakened the doors, allowing a well-executed sidekick to smash through them.  
  
"Save me, SAVE ME!" cried a voice from near where Ranma had entered  
  
Ranma approached the balding guy, "I'm a burning Ranger, I'm here to save you." Ranma's intuition began to nag him, something didn't seem right about this man, "are you part of the worker crew here?"  
  
"No, I'm in the surprise inspection crew. We were sent to review the lab for more funding."  
  
Ranma's left eye began to twitch, "and, pray tell, how many are in this inspection crew?"  
  
"50, bare minimum needed for a facility this size. A few went to the main control deck, the rest of us were sent to look over the rest of the place. "  
  
"SHIIIIIIIIII....."  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"[IIIIIOOOOT!!!!!!]"  
  
Emmanuel blinked at Ranma's exclamation, "Problem, Ranma?"  
  
"[Big one, there are a lot other people spread out around here, dunno if we'll have enough time to backtrack them all.]"  
  
"[I just happened upon two, Ranma. Be prepared to receive them in medical, Manuel, slight smoke inhalation. You go on ahead to our objective, I'll scout around for the others.]"  
  
"[Copy that, I'll keep an eye out just in case..]"  
  
"[We're in the control room now, but we have a slight problem here...]," Courtney's voice held a bit of tension.  
  
"And what do you have to add to this little drama, chica?"  
  
"[Okay, two problems.]"  
  
"Oh, this day keeps getting better and better," thought Emmanuel to himself, he really was looking towards a relaxing day just watching some old Mexican wrestling movies, "and they are?"  
  
"[First, the temperature is rising in here. They were working with an experimental gaseous fuel that burns with very little pollutants, which allows it to burn more intensely, and also causes other flammable materials to combust much more effectively. It's not gonna take long before the flames melt their way through and we have more than just one sitting duck here.]"  
  
"[Hey, watch the duck references,]" Shouted Mousse indignantly in the background  
  
"[Second, from what I'm reading here, Ranma's gonna have some opposition when he gets to his destination.]"  
  
"Well we know how Ranma thrives on challenges," Hopefully adding some levity to the situation will make things better, hoped Emmanuel.  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"I found another one," Ranma shouted over her comm. unit, but got no response,  
  
"Who, who are you?" Asked the woman on her hands and knees, gasping a bit for oxygen.  
  
"I'm one of the Burning Rangers, I'll have you out in a sec," replied Ranma, "Manuel,"  
  
"Why couldn't I have a handsome hunk rescue me?" Said the woman exasperatedly.  
  
Ranma grimaced at the comment, but ignored it further, "Manuel? Geez, if it's not one thing, it's another." Ranma assumed that there was probably a lot of interference due to the insulation where she was, meaning she wouldn't be able to communicate with the Burning Ship, meaning she wouldn't be able to transport any more.  
  
"Looks like you'll have to come with me Ma'am."  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"[I've found another group of them, thankfully for the most part they're staying together. I'm going to need to gather some more energy crystals soon though. How's everyone else doing?]" asked Big.  
  
Emmanuel dry swallowed before telling his commander the news, "Si, well, Mousse y` Courtney don't have much time, with things are muy malo for them and everyone else with them. And Ranma, Ranma I lost contact with a few seconds ago."  
  
Big was silent for a few seconds as he digested the information given to him, "[Ranma can take care of himself, hopefully he'll show up again soon.]"  
  
"Yes, but I won't be able to make his progress until then."  
  
"[Just keep faith in him. Remember, Ranma Saotome never gives up and never fails.]"  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"Well, isn't this just peachy?" Ranma muttered to herself, as she spied the four guard droids in front of her goal, all of them active and alert too.  
  
"Are you intending to manually unlock the securing bolts?" enquired the woman; Ranma blinked at this and responded.  
  
"Uh, I guess, is that what I'm going to need to do?"  
  
Ranma's blonde companion sighed in exasperation, "I see you didn't think much about this? I'll tell you what, if you can keep those things.." she pointed to the blue security droids, "busy, I'll unsecure them for you, problem is we won't have much time to get out of here once it launches. If we dally, we'll be flash fried by the thrusters."  
  
Ranma mused over that fact for a bit, and assessed the battle ground, "there, you know where that leads to?" she asked pointing to what looked like to be a maintenance tunnel.  
  
"That's to the ascending tunnel, but we probably won't have time to climb the ladder... WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"  
  
Ranma paused in the middle of stripping off her Ranger outfit, "You're gonna wear this in case anything goes wrong, don't worry about me." Ranma gave the woman her patented smirk. "I'm Ranma Saotome, and I never give up."  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"It's starting to get unbearable for most of them," voiced Mousse in concern, everyone but the two Burning Rangers was starting to sweat, if Ranma didn't hurry up soon they may have some stroke victims to deal with, and unfortunately they had very few energy crystals between them, and wouldn't have enough to get more than a couple of people out."  
  
"Saotome, I hope you're not taking this too lightly."  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"HEY! TINHEADS!"  
  
If that didn't get their attention, the energy blast fired at the first one's head probably did.  
  
"KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!!!" The redheaded martial artist, clad only in a black training bra and matching boxers, descended upon the second one, smashing its head in. As she landed, the second two surrounded her, ready to grasp their target and restrained it. Ranma leapt straight into the air for another attack, "KI NO HASAKI KYAKU!"  
  
Ranma landed with a flourish as the final two Robot's heads fell to the ground, their bodies following shortly after. "Heh, piece of cake."  
  
Professor Bergis, the woman accompanying Ranma, stood shock still. She had just seen this woman, without any mechanical enhancements, destroy four level 3 guard droids in less than 10 seconds. Her awe was short lived as the parts sprang to life. "LOOK OUT!!!"  
  
Ranma's battle instincts flared to life as she back flipped quickly from a grasping pair of hands, "What? HEY NO FAIR!!!!"  
  
Ranma watched with no little amount of frustration as two of the robot bodies picked up the heads on the ground, attached them to their proper places, then proceeded to mount the other two robot bodies and merge with them.  
  
The redhead growled and dashed after one of the two four legged centuarian shaped guard droids and performed a sliding kick that took out two of it's legs. When Ranma recovered, she caught a back kick for her troubles that sent her sailing into a wall. Ranma recovered before meeting with the wall, bracing her feet against it, then used the momentum to launch herself at the second one.  
  
"HANEKAERU RYUUSEIKYAKU!" Like it's namesake, Ranma's kick shot through the second robot like a meteor striking a plate glass window, not even giving it time to shatter, but nonetheless doing major damage. Once Ranma landed, she went into the air one more time, turning in mid air, and took aim to finish the job, "SHIN MOUKU TAKABISHA!!!"  
  
The professor ignored the spectacular sight behind her, regardless of how much she wanted to see, and concentrated on her task at hand..  
  
"Is, is it finished yet?" The Redhead asked cautiously, really not wanting an answer to that. She gasped as she watched the first robot's wires snake out and merge with the second one's body parts. Within seconds, a new construct formed, one shaped like a scorpion standing twenty feet tall.  
  
Ranma gritted her teeth and began the battle anew...  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"'Manuel, have you heard from Ranma yet?" asked Courtney desperately, one person already fainted, and the room temperature was steadily rising. She could also see the warping of some of the walls, where the heat from outside was beginning to make leeway.  
  
"[Afraid not, Courtney, I don't know what's going on with her.]"  
  
"We can't wait any longer, I'm starting the thrusters again, hopefully we can shake ourselves loose..."  
  
"[But Ranma may be...]"  
  
"I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER! We're good as dead if we don't move and soon," it was a tough decision to make, and she prayed that Ranma wouldn't be caught in the ignition. And if she was, God help her...  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma spun out of the way of a tail strike, then rolled out of the way of a pincher. This incarnation was MUCH faster than the previous two, almost as if it's adjusted to her fighting style. It had formed an energy barrier over itself that kept Ranma's Ki attacks from working against it, and for it's size it was rather maneuverable. To top it all off, it also now had energy blasts from its stinger and claws. Ranma stalled for time by having it chase her around the circular base while the Professor worked. The Redhead then felt the temperature that began to radiate from the rocket spire, and saw the ignitions start up on the balance stabilizers that ringed it.  
  
"I'M FINISHED!" Exclaimed Professor Bergis as she unlatched the final securing bolt; just then the rumble of rockets alerted her to how much time she had. Also her shout drew the attention of the robotic scorpion.  
  
The Professor turned to see a mechanical arachnid's tail heading straight for her. She closed her eyes and screamed as loud as she could, but found her screams drowned out by the angry growl of a rocket.  
  
"If you don't open your eyes, you're gonna miss the ride."  
  
Professor Bergis blinked as she realized she wasn't dead yet, then looked around her, then screamed again.  
  
Ranma was running at inhuman speeds, outracing the inferno behind her. Unfortunately it wasn't fast enough as flame enveloped the two.  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"We're taking off!" Shouted Mousse, almost not containing all his enthusiasm.  
  
"Yup! I just hope Ranma will make it back," voiced Courtney quietly. His loss would be way too heavy for everyone.  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
"REPPUKEN!!!"  
  
A force of wind cut through. She and the doctor only suffered a slight singe as Ranma had flared an aura of ice cold around her that almost burned the doctor as much as the fire.  
  
"Tell me, doctor, how much do you weigh?" Ranma's voice was almost conversational, belaying the seriousness of the situation. The ladder was only twenty yards away, and the shutter door to it was slowly closing in order to prevent the flames from escaping.  
  
"WHAT? YOU HAVE THE GALL TO ASK THAT QUESTION AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!?!?" Shouted the doctor incredulously.  
  
"I'll say about one- twenty five," Ranma guestimated, acting like he didn't hear her reply. Ranma suddenly dropped, sliding on one knee and trailing her leg behind her. She slid under the door in time, but as Ranma had hoped, so did much of the flame.  
  
Ranma came to a stop, and immediately swept her dragging leg around in a circle, bringing it closer to her with every rotation, Her foot leaving a trail of ice crystals behind it. A trail of flame was dragged with her leg, seeming to chase after the foot.  
  
Once Ranma's leg was pulled in tight to her, she leapt, "HIRYUU SHOTEN HA!"  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
The Burning Ship hovered alongside the control room/escape craft, both awaiting news on the final member of the Burning Rangers.  
  
"[I... I don't think he made it,]" stated Emmanuel gravely.  
  
"NO! Saotome ALWAYS wins!" Shouted Mousse  
  
"But, it's been too long, we should have heard from him by now," said Courtney  
  
"[I got the last of them out, any word on Ranma?]" inquired Big, his voice showing no worries, but a great deal of professionalism and concern.  
  
".....No..." Mousse stated, breaking the momentary silence that followed the question.  
  
Courtney suddenly gasped, drawing Mousse's attention, "WHAT is THAT?"  
  
Mousse spied the phenomenon and chuckled, "That's Ranma."  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
The whirling funnel shot out of the access tunnel like a cannon of wind. Ranma tightly back flipped out as soon as it escaped, sliding back a good four yards.  
  
"One-twenty two."  
  
Ranma blinked and looked at the doctor, "What?"  
  
"I weigh a hundred and twenty two pounds."  
  
Ranma let out a hearty chuckle that the doctor soon joined in.  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma arrived at home, still in female form. She couldn't be concerned about changing back, she was just so spent, she wanted to get home and sleep for a few years. The moment she opened the door, a blur hit her full force, tackling her to the ground.  
  
Ranma groaned before speaking, "Not now Ukyo, Dad's tire... Nabiki?"  
  
"Don't, *kiss* you *kiss* EVER *smooth* do that to *kiss* me AGAIN, MISTER *kiss* SAOTOME!!!" Nabiki didn't finish with the kisses even after speaking.  
  
"Sigh, can this at least wait till I get some hot water?" Ranma baulked at the harsh glare her wife gave him  
  
"No"  
  
Ranma just shrugged as Nabiki forcefully dragged her into the house and upstairs. 


	4. Cut Scene 1; Story foreshadowing

"So, when are they supposed to arrive?" Inquired Nabiki as she finished getting dressed, and chuckled from her husband's lack of response. She'd figured she 'punished' him enough, and he had already seemed that he had a long day. With the Amazons arriving at any time, she expected it to be much longer.  
  
  
  
Ranma managed to groan a response, then suddenly shot to alertness, "hon, you mind staying upstairs for a bit?"  
  
  
  
Nabiki's response was cut off by Ranma's shushing, as she went to the closet and pulled out a spare Amazon outfit. Nabiki sighed and mouthed to her spouse, "Try to keep it out of the house, please?" Ranma shrugged and opened the door, starting downstairs.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
  
  
Ranma quietly crept through the house, praying to herself that they at least would have the common decency to stay away from anything fragile. Ranma stretched out her senses, "they're good," she mused to herself, "they're hiding themselves well." Ranma stayed tense and alert, every nerve of her martial honed body reaching out for any potential threat, inhumanly toned muscles loose but ready to become tense as steel cables, balance consistently centered as if ready to move in every direction. Ranma was rather disappointed when she made it to the porch in the back hard, and relaxed, "Hmm, I know they're here, I wonder what they're up to."  
  
  
  
"AIYAA"  
  
  
  
Ranma swerved to the sound, ready to guard against an attack, and nearly tripped at the sight. Nabiki held back the chuckle of watching her female husband fall for her lousy imitation.  
  
  
"Hello dear, took you long enough to stalk down here..."  
  
  
  
"Na... Nabiki? How did you get down here?"  
  
  
  
Her wife just seemed to look through her, "Hey helped me"  
  
  
  
Ranma ducked a sword swing, and retaliated with a back kick, which was avoided. Before she could lower her leg, she was forced to twist out of the way of an ax kick, then back flip from a sweep from the same attacking limb.  
  
As soon as Ranma landed, she blocked a whipping cane swing with her leather bracer on her right hand, then pushed the weapon aside and stepped into the guard of the Amazon. A double palm strike sent the warrior fifteen feet away, wind knocked out of her.  
  
Ranma pulled to her left as a vertical swipe just barely missed her right shoulder. Ranma spun on her left heel and rammed her left elbow into her assailant's sternum, then rotated her arm at the elbow and back fisted her, sending the second Amazon stumbling back. Ranma snaked her left hand out and caught the Amazon's right hand that was still holding the sword, then brought the arm up and twisted under it to parry a bonbori strike and threw a right tai kick at it's owner's ribs. Ranma continued her right leg into a knee strike; catching the sword bearer she was just previously dealing with in the chin and sending her off the porch, into a tree.  
  
  
  
Ranma stomped her right leg down, using the momentum to leap tightly, and turned her body horizontally, twisting like a funnel as one Amazon's sword passed under her, while a tan fah passed over her, barely missing clipping her. Ranma landed in low, her right hand punching one of the duo in the gut, while her left leg slipped back and tripped up the second. Before the first Amazon could completely double over from the gut punch, Ranma grasped her by the top and bottom of her leather brazier, and threw her onto her grounded companion.   
  
Ranma ducked under the first Amazon he dealt with and her diving double horizontal lotus sword swing, rooted herself into a horse stance, and punched upward, catching the first warrior in the gut as she did at to the previous opponent, then casually dropped her onto the ground on top of the two on the ground.  
  
  
  
The Redheaded woman spun around and pulled her head back in time to miss the tip of a whipping cane connecting with her jaw. The wielder continued the horizontal swing from the left, and then brought the back over top with her right hand, which her opponent sidestepped. In a continuous motion in a classic heaven six pattern, the Amazon brought the other end back to her right, aiming to catch Ranma in the left ribs. Ranma deftly leapt over the strike, then faded to her own right from the following horizontal strike. Ranma stepped out as once again the other end of the staff was swung towards her right side, then stepped, bracing her left forearm against the other girl's left arm, behind her elbow.  
  
  
  
In a fluid motion that lasted less than a second, Ranma replaced her left hand with her right behind the girl's left elbow, and brought her left hand down onto the inside of the wrist of the same arm for an arm bar. Following that, Ranma just slightly bringing her right hand off the girl's arm, and torquing down her whole body to her right, pounding on the bottom poor girl's bicep near where it met the inside of the elbow, simultaneously bringing her own right elbow horizontally into where the girl's pectoral and deltoid, while the whole motion shot the girl downwards, Ranma bringing the top of her forehead down to slam under the bottom of the girl's jaw. The red headed woman then straightened her left arm out and struck her forearm against the side of the girl's head. Ranma didn't finish there as she slipped her left hand down onto the back of the girl's neck, and attempted to jerk her down into her raised left knee. The girl stiffened and fought against being pulled down, as Ranma expected, and The matriarch in training snapped her leg up at the knee into an upwards high snap kick, sending the girl over her head and into the pile of Amazons behind her.  
  
  
"Feh, pathetic, the five of you couldn't even take out an old hag like me," Onna-Ranma sniffed, and suddenly found she couldn't say anymore, as her face was smashed through the porch floor.  
  
  
  
"Dad, you really fight like a girl!" proclaimed Ukyo as he stood on the top of his female father's head, causing Ranma to groan a bit.  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
  
  
"So, what's this all about?" questioned Emmanuel as he sat down next to Big. He had been called to his commander's office after he had finished maintenancing the Burning Ship.  
  
  
  
"Yes, I'm pretty sure you've heard about the weather regulation system that was being worked on, code named Stormwatch, am I correct?"  
  
  
  
"Aye, being able to control the weather worldwide, that's some heavy stuff!" replied the Hispanic. He didn't particularly care for the tampering of Mother Nature on a large scale, but if it was for the benefit of mankind...  
  
  
  
"We were invited to it's unveiling. It's supposed to go operational in a week."  
  
  
  
"Only a week? Didn't take them very long to complete it."  
  
  
  
"You're right, that job we did yesterday at the chemical plant? I did some digging and found out the cause of the explosion. They were sabotaged"  
  
  
  
"Sabotaged? That doesn't make sense."  
  
  
  
"Not at first," countered Big, "that gas that kept the fire going, that was an experimental fuel for Weatherman, a competing project for Stormwatch. That was a major component for it, and when that went up in flames, so to speak, all funding and resources was put towards Stormwatch, allowing them to advance the project further."  
  
  
  
"Heh, so you believe this is some sort of conspiracy?"  
  
  
  
"Not that I can say, Stormwatch could fall victim to the same saboteurs. Both projects aren't very popular with all factions. My instincts tell me that something major is going to happen," Big folded his hands in front of him, placing his chin on top of them, "Project; Stormwatch may fall under the same fate."  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
  
  
"Darn it, Nabiki, that was just dirty, and you know it!" Ranma groused, now back in his male form lying on the couch with a cold compress on his forehead, the five Amazon visitors were out back still with his son sparring to pass the time while their mentor recovered herself, "you set me up!"  
  
  
  
"Did I just hear Ranma Saotome, Master of Amazonian fighting arts and master of the Anything Goes School of Martial arts, complain about an unfair advantage? Oh my ears doth deceive me!"  
  
  
  
"Cute, Nabs, cute, first you KNOW I had a long day, then you wear me out upstairs, THEN you sick the Amazon squad out there on me, were you really that ticked with me?" Ranma griped in reply, and decided to change the subject, "Any idea why they're here? I had to leave before Cologne told me the full story."  
  
  
  
"I don't think Cologne would have told you until it was too late," Nabiki ventured, "and I thought it would be poor sportsmanship to spoil the surprise."  
  
  
  
"Well? You gonna tell me or not?"  
  
  
  
"Why Ranma, they're here to be trained as the next generation of Burning Rangers..."  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
  
  
"So, we're planning on attending?" Emmanuel was hoping for a negative answer, he's already behind on his UWA Mexican Wrestling videos, not to mention his cult idol El Santos vids, and he didn't care for formal events anyhow.  
  
  
  
Big picked up on the unvoiced plea, "You don't HAVE to go, but you're on call at that time, so's Ranma. Courtney will be my date for the evening."  
  
  
  
Emmanuel groaned at the news that he'll have to sit on wait, at least he won't have to wear a monkey suit this time around, "Aren't you being a little paranoid about this?"  
  
  
  
"Maybe, but I'll sleep safer that night knowing that I was paranoid for no reason."  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
  
  
Ranma blinked a couple of times, sorting out what he was just told, "I don't get it."  
  
  
Nabiki sighed, wasn't the blatant answer obvious enough, "Mr. Saotome, you..." she put her finger against her husband's chest, "are to train them..." she pointed outside, "in the skills needed to be a Burning Ranger, and on top of that you will sponsor their application to the Burning Rangers."  
  
  
  
"I understand that Nabiki, but, why? Why would they care about the Burning Rangers? This isn't like it's an Amazon affair."  
  
  
  
Nabiki's slightly annoyed look turned into a sincere smile," Sigh, Ranma, as much as an isolationalist village Neichiizu is, they're proud of what you do for the rest of the world. Many of the young girls and boys there look up to the Future Amazon matriarch.."  
  
  
  
"I never said I was gonna be Matriarch"  
  
  
  
"... and their premier male warrior who are renowned the world over. You and Mousse are leaders, and even the elders so set in the old ways see the benefits with another generation of warriors joining the Burning Rangers."  
  
  
  
"And those benefits are?" Ranma asked skeptically.  
  
  
  
"Well, the Chinese government stays off their backs, because of the popular influence you have. They no longer have to battle for survival from other outside parties, but being Burning Rangers allows their heritage for being the strongest warriors to survive, just with a different type of enemy. It gets their younger ones more experience with the outside world; the Amazon nation is joining the 21st century after all. Lastly, you'll get to spread your new martial arts firefighting techniques through out the tribe."  
  
  
  
"Heh, you have this all worked out, don'tja Nabs?"  
  
  
  
Nabiki threw a pillow at her husband, "You KNOW how much I hate that name, and it's obvious anyhow, at least to anyone with my intellect."  
  
  
  
"Heh, of course. Well I'm going to take a bath and go take a nap, just wake me in time for dinner, and tell Ukyo to practice his katas while I'm asleep," with that, Ranma went upstairs to get a change of clothes then to the furo.  
  
  
  
Nabiki walked into the back yard as he caught one of the Amazons, Teepee She thought her name was, sparring with her son.  
  
  
  
"Aiyah, Ukyo good fighter, if he defeat T'chi Pei, he may have to get Kiss of Marriage," spoke the Amazon in a pidgin accent that reminded Nabiki of an acquaintance years past.  
  
  
  
"You get that kiss, I'm paying you to elope, quipped Nabiki, earning a 'icky' face from her son at the prospect of kissing. "Already a lady-killer like your father, I think no less than four fiancées will do for my young man."  
  
  
  
Ukyo paused at his mom's comment to ask what she meant, and caught a thrust kick to his side for his lack of attention. The young boy glared at the innocent acting Amazon for a few seconds for the cheap shot.  
  
  
  
"T'chi Pei no want get married so soon," stated the Amazon girl innocently.  
  
  
"Well, your father says for you to work on your Katas, he's too tired to train you today."  
  
  
"Huh? Why's pop to tired?"  
  
  
  
Nabiki had the good graces to blush while the five visitors giggled. "Ahem, anyhow, you need to practice, any of you mind helping me out in the kitchen with dinner?"  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
  
  
"So you'll be attending? Splendid! How many of the esteemed Burning Rangers will be attending? I understand, duty comes first after all, but I wanted to meet the famous Ranma Saotome whose daring exploits have made your division so famous. You'll ask him? That's gracious of you; let him know that I would be highly honored with his presence. Thank you, I must get back to work if I am to make this deadline, Stormwatch won't build itself after all, you're kind to afford me some of your humor, good evening Mr. Landman."  
  
  
  
Dr. Kimson disconnected the video line and turned back to his terminal. He had a lot to work on in order for Stormwatch to be complete on time. The virtual interface would allow a comfortable virtual reality interaction with the controls of the environmental control system. He pressed his glasses further up his slightly elongated nose, yes, it all had to be perfect by the time of unveiling. Fully aware of the problems of another similar project, Kimson endeavored to make everything failsafe...  
  
Failsafe, indeed.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
  
  
  
"Hmm? I dunno, Ranma avoids shindigs like that. Oh? It's an order now? I don't think he'll very cooperative... of course I would love to go, mhmm, I guess I can be very convincing at times. That shouldn't be a problem, I have five babysitters on hand right now, in fact, Teepee's here, would you like to speak to her?"  
  
Nabiki blinked as the line clicked and went dead, then chuckled to herself as she hung up the phone, "Hey, Teepee, Big says 'hello'."  
  
  
  
"For last time," cried a voice from the living room, "Teepee name, er, T'chi Pei name is T'CHI PEI! NO 'TEEPEE'... Airen call to speak to T'chi Pei?"  
  
  
  
"Sorry dear, official business of the Burning Rangers, but he gives his love."  
  
Ranma walked into the hall after glancing at the love struck look across the young Amazon's face, "That wasn't very nice, you know?"  
  
  
  
"Comon, Ranma, a girl's gotta have her adolescent fantasies every now and then."  
  
  
  
"No, I mean now I'm gonna have to take her to meet him so she won't go on a rampage again, Big'll get upset with me, and I'll end up doing a week of paperwork and polishing boost packs again, thanks a lot... Nabs." Ranma chuckled as he pulled just out of reach of his wife's attack.  
  
  
  
"What have I told you about calling me 'Nabs', dear? Do you LIKE sleeping in the Dojo while the heater's still not fixed? Anyhow, consider it fair since he's making attend the Stormwatch activation ceremony and you'll be complaining to him about it for weeks."  
  
  
  
"Oh, no, I'm not going! Remember the last big party thingy? Nothin' doin'!" Protested the pigtailed man, waking warding signs with his hands.  
  
  
  
"Oh yes, I recall that, I guess you'll just have to go as a woman then. That way you're not recognized and remembered by certain... parties, and you're staying away from any peculiar tasting punch' too. Though I must say, you had a pretty solid booking for that month."  
  
  
  
Nabiki chuckled as her husband marched off mumbling curses to himself about mastering drunken 'strip'fu'. 


	5. Stage 3: Kuno Mansion Melee

She wanted to weep, but her old mindset from when she proclaimed herself a fulltime guy would not allow it. They were competent fighters, all five of them. One of them she even selected as her potential heir in the Amazon tribe (not that she was going to become Matriarch at any time, but it didn't hurt to have another student other than her son to tortu... er, train). Unfortunately, while dealing with one on one opponents they excelled, this was one enemy they had no idea how to best.  
  
  
  
"Wrong, wrong, WRONG! End simulation," Onna-Ranma commanded, causing the holographic inferno to wink out and restore a damaged looking high-tech warehouse building into a barren grid room, "this is not an enemy you can face and anticipate. You have to act against it immediately, stop it before it can become too powerful."  
  
  
  
"Aiyah, but that dishonorable if not fight fire fair!"  
  
  
  
Ranma blinked a couple of times at Lei-woo Fa, before casually conjuring up a mallet and slamming her with it, "Please get it out of your heads that this an battle between you and a devious and worthy opponent. It will not hesitate to use underhanded attacks, it will show no remorse in combat, it won't respect you, but you sure will respect IT."  
  
  
  
"Fire not honorable warrior? Then Wa Fu kill like sick dog!" exclaimed the always-overzealous Wa-Fu, as she raised her bonbori menacingly.  
  
  
  
"Please don't interrupt me again," sighed the redheaded woman as she retrieved her second mallet from the fallen girl's face. She hated to be so brutal sometimes, but on occasion it was all Ranma could do to keep their attention. "Elder Cologne, is this payment for so long ago?" Ranma asked her rhetorical question to the ceiling.  
  
  
  
"Elder Cologne say Sifu-Ranma train us, teach you respect."  
  
  
  
"I wasn't looking for an answer," commented Ranma as she raised her hand to catch the mallet that she threw at T'chi Pei's head, was barely avoided, rebounded off the back wall, then off the floor, impacted with the back of it's intended target's head, and ricochet upwards and tumbled into the air, back into Ranma's awaiting grasp.  
  
  
  
"Nice, violent, but nice!" commented an accented voice from the entryway.  
  
  
  
"Hush, you, I still have a custom designed mallet ready for you anytime!"  
  
  
  
"Er, that no be the one with latex padded head, oak frame, and black velvet covered handle?"  
  
  
  
"Of course, the one designed for 'repeated' use? Comfortable on the hands, the latex end adding enough bounce to save energy for impact, not recoil."  
  
  
  
Emmanuel slightly cold sweat at the reminder.  
  
  
  
"Ranma, I heard you were in today, I need to discuss..." Big noticed the five other Amazons in the training room, "But I see you're rather busy so I'll just come back another time when I'm sure you're alone."  
  
  
  
"Too late," said Ranma as Big blinked, and looked down to find a turquoise hair colored Amazon clutched to his harm.  
  
  
  
Big rubbed his temples with his free hand, then asked in English, "Ranma, do something."  
  
  
  
"Hey, I gave you fair warning, don't blame me!"  
  
  
  
"Warning, when did you tell me she," Big nodded to the attempted permanent attachment to his arm, "was going to be here?"  
  
  
  
"I dunno, Emmanuel, when did you tell Big?"  
  
  
  
"Er, just now, tchau!" The Southern Hispanic made his departure before he could receive a surprise assignment from Big.  
  
"I think the Burning Ship can stand an extra... four clear polymer coatings," announced the large African coldly as he tried to covertly dislodge his 'betrothed' from his arm.  
  
Ranma shook her head before bailing her squad leader out, "T'chi Pei, are you distracted?"  
  
The turquoise maned Amazon pouted cutely, "but I miss airen"  
  
"But my mallet didn't miss you," Ranma calmly stated as she dragged the unconscious Amazon back to the rest of the young trainees.  
  
"Well, I guess this introductory into Firefighting seminar is a bust, the rest of you may as retire for the day, but I expect you all to be back at the dojo practicing the arts until I return tonight. If I let you slack off, Cologne won't let me hear the end of it." The four conscious girls bowed to their elder and headed out the training room, T'chi Pei dragged by her leg.  
  
"Well, I'm not busy now, so what did you want?" Questioned Ranma as she folded her arms over her chest.  
  
"Just wanted to warn you, this ball we're attending, I want you to keep your eyes and ears open in case trouble happens."  
  
"Oh, your big conspiracy theory," Ranma mocked, "It's not like I'll be enjoying myself there, may as well be work also."  
  
"I wouldn't take this so lightly if I were you, if anything goes wrong with this, it could be a major catastrophe."  
  
"Me rubbing elbows with snobs is a catastrophe, why can't you just get Chris Parton to cover for us, or at least have some of her squad attend."  
  
"They're all on duty, somebody had to be, now chin up, you may enjoy yourself!" Big grinned at the scowl on the redhead's face, then left the room. Not five seconds later a loud cry of "Airen" was heard.  
  
Ranma pointedly ignored the cries for help of her fellow Burning Ranger.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"I don't get it, why is it in all these El Santo videos you have me watch with you, all the women are dating cops?" Enquired a now male Ranma, trying to find some interest point in the film he promised Emmanuel he'd watch with him in the Ranger Headquarter's entertainment room.  
  
"They just do, now hush here's a good part!" Emmanuel jumped and winced gleefully as El Santo did a cheesy body slam to one of the Vampire Women.  
  
"Gee, I guess that was painful," spoke Ranma in a monotone voice, not even bothering to hide the contempt for the movie.  
  
"*Groan*, you promised you weren't gonna spoil this for me, Vato!"  
  
"Who you calling a 'Bato', Baka? And I didn't make any promises!"  
  
"Well, it woulda been nice if you did"  
  
Ranma sighed as he slumped deeper into the loveseat, swearing to himself that each film he gets suckered into watching with the team's resident Hispanic seems to be longer than the last one. Come to think of it, why was he the *only* one who was always around for these 'teammate bonding' experiences? Fortunately reprieve came, but under an unfortunate distress.  
  
"[Ranma, Nabiki needs you home, now. There's been an accident]" stated Big's voice over the intercom system. Though the message was urgent, both Emmanuel and Ranma smirked at the cooing noises being made by a certain love struck Amazon in the background.  
  
Ranma's mirth was short lived as he finally digested what he was told...  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma, still wearing his Burning Rangers uniform, was teleported from the BR Headquarters straight back to his home, meeting face to face with his slightly distraught wife.  
  
"Ukyo, he's at the old Kuno Mansion!"  
  
Ranma was out the door and bounding rooftop to rooftop in less time than it took for him to mutter 'heck'. The Kuno's had abandoned their old home after Sasuke had gone overboard with upgrading the traps set around the manor. The Public Health and Safety agency (at the beset of a certain anonymous Burning Ranger) inspected the household, proclaiming it, in quote, "Only a maniac would find themselves at ease in this warped atrocity of home security."  
  
The Kunos didn't understand what the problem was, but only mildly protested being forced out of their home. Apparently they didn't like the neighborhood much since the property values had dropped so low (easily explained by the urban legend of the Nerima Wrecking Crew). Unfortunately they never got to tearing the place down, seeing as how much of it was rather... sensitive and tended to explode with the slightest intrusion.  
  
In mere moments Ranma was leaping over the wall surrounding the old home, twisting out of the way of a swarm of poison darts that flew in his direction.  
  
"I am really gonna pound that wannabe Ninja creep next time I see him" groused Ranma as he weaved and dodged through the gattling barrage of parilasitic needles. Ranma then leapt quickly past taser wires before an interweaving net was formed from them and barbequed the pigtailed man.  
  
"[Ey Ranma, Big thought you might need a hand for whatever it was, so I'm here to back you, where you at?]"  
  
"I'm at the old Kuno Mansion, apparently my son wandered into here." Ranma didn't miss the sharp intake of breath his teammate made; he understood the dire of the situation.  
  
"[I'm dropping your pack to you, loaded with enough energy to transport 10 people, much less just your son in case you need to keep your shield up.]"  
  
Ranma didn't have to wait as he saw the Burning Ship arrive almost immediately, and his thrust pack teleported at his feet.   
  
Ranma put on his pack, thanking the Kami that it's teleporting didn't set off any traps, and gingerly made his way to the entrance of the main house.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma walked cautiously up to the front door, and at about 10 yards away, shot forth a small Mouku Takabisha. The Door shattered inward, not triggering any additional traps. Ranma blinked and started to stride forward to enter the mansion, when he suddenly realized he was not feeling the ground at the moment. Only a small yelp was heard as the trap door swung back up, welcome mat back in place hiding its existence.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"[Ranma, are you there? Come in Vato!]"  
  
"I'm fine, Manuel, don't worry about it," answered Ranma, more than peeved at himself for falling for such an obvious Sasuke created trap. "This isn't good, I have no idea where I'm at here."  
  
"[Aye, I'll see if I can get the layout of the Mansion for you.]"  
  
"Don't bother, you won't find them. Try to get in contact with any of the Kunos, they may have an idea of the layout."  
  
"[Si, Just sit tight...]"  
  
"Sorry, my son's in here, and the longer I wait, the worse off he's gonna be. That is until I get a hold of him."  
  
Emmanuel chuckled at Ranma's mirth; even in a crisis he is good for a couple of grins, "Right, just be careful."  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Ukyo wandered the halls of the creepy dungeon place. He had wondered in to investigate the disappearance of Miyuki's kitten; after all it was a martial artist's duty to help the weak. Miyuki and Goten followed him; at least until that trap door at the front entrance slid them down two separate passageways. Now all three of them were lost in this creepy place. Ukyo's jaw tightened as his resolve firmed, he still had to protect the weak, so he'd find his friends first, find Miyuki's kitten Kage, then get out of here before any of the grownups caught them. The young man stepped forward before his ears picked up on the sound of running water, lots of running water, heading his way...  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma swore {mildly, of course ;p }, if he ever got a hold of Sasuke again...  
  
The thought was temporarily put on hold as back flipped away from a weight descending a bit faster than even gravity requested it to. Before he could land, the ground below him opened up into a lava pit. Ranma activated his pack's thrusters, allowing him to change trajectory a bit and land on where there was still floor. As soon as Ranma landed, he ducked a sickle that swung at waist length, slicing in half his pack.  
  
"Great, this is gonna come outta my paycheck," groused Ranma as he shed the now useless dead weight.  
  
"[Ranma, speak to me! You there still?]"  
  
"Yeah, just lost my paraglide pack, I won't be able to hold any energy to transport anyone, I'll just have to lead Ukyo out safely."  
  
"[Roger that, by the way, I can't locate any of the Kunos.]"  
  
"Of course, why would I ever get a break, after all?" Ranma mumbled more to himself. The lava pit was wide and deep, but obviously the lava was shallow from how it flowed (after several rescue attempts from active volcanoes as a Burning Ranger, you tended to pick things up like that). The problem was that it was long, while the ceiling was not high enough to get a good arc for a jump across, and his soul of ice techniques could only get him so far. Ranma smirked as he heard the running water through the wall next to him, and taking the invite, threw a vacuum blade along the wall.  
  
Ranma blinked when he heard a familiar scream flow out with the jet of water. Ranma's hands ignited with ice blue ki as he touched a portion of the water flow, creating an ice platform. Ranma jumped on it and surfed it down the water flow, lowering himself so he got more speed down. He managed to intercept the falling child before they even met the scalding steam rising, and brought his cold ki aura around him and the ice platform. As soon as the platform hit molten rock, Ranma pushed off as hard as possible to make it back up the 30 feet he had fallen.  
  
As soon as Ranma made it to the other side, he got a good look at whom he saved, "UKYO? You are *SO* in trouble, young man!"  
  
"Uh, hi, Dad," muttered Ukyo sheepishly.  
  
"Save it, I gotta get you out of here somehow."  
  
"I can't leave, pop. Miyuki and Goten are still in here too."  
  
"WHAT?!? Haven't I told you to stay AWAY from this place?" Ranma yelled, once again the situation was getting way out of hand.  
  
"But, but, Kage is in here and Miyuki was crying and we, we," Ukyo started tearing up, and if there was one thing Ranma hated to see more than women crying, was his own son near tears.  
  
"Don't worry, I'll get them out too, including Kage, just promise me you'll never come here again after this is all done."  
  
Ukyo silently nodded as Ranma thought up a way to gather some crystals. Ranma turned towards the cooling lava pit, noting the far end was still blazing hot. Ranma threw a barrage of Mouku Takabishas at that end, causing a rupture of several lava balls. Ranma used his pulse rifle on the rising molten balls, shearing off their heat energy and turning it into energy to power his teleporter. Once enough energy was amassed on the other side, Ranma devised a way to get to and fro.  
  
Ukyo stared wide-eyed as he watched his father run along the wall, onto the ceiling, and down the other wall back to the other side like in that Sonic the Hedgehog game when Sonic could do that while running real fast. Truth is Ranma was using his ki to freeze the water molecules along the wall, forming a thin ice film that was temporarily holding his foot to the wall for traction. Ranma gathered the crystals at the other end, using a ki sphere to hold them, and repeated the run back to the other side, carrying the sphere full of crystals in front of him.  
  
"Manuel, this is Ranma, I'm sending my son up, unfortunately there are two more stragglers down here I need to hunt down," Ranma powered up his transporter and sent his son up to the Burning Ship.  
  
"One down, two to go," mumbled Ranma as he set on his task through the underground labyrinth of the old Kuno Estate.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma heard the large rumbling behind him, and rolled his eyes at the sight that met him. Without any large effort, Ranma stuck his finger against the large rolling boulder that aimed to crush him, causing it to shatter into gravel.  
  
"Master Ryoga? Is that you again? Oh I do wish you would stop shattering those traps, they are quite expensive you know?"  
  
Ranma paused at the mention of his old rival's name, then his mind realized who it was that spoke the name, "Sa-Sasuke?" By command, the midget Ninja dropped out of the shadows, managing to startle Ranma a bit. Sasuke looked a bit worse for wear. Last Ranma recalled, the Kuno family retainer kept his outfit meticulous, at the moment it was looking rather ragged. Also, though Sasuke wasn't normally clean-shaven before, his rugged beard looked like it probably housed a family of sparrows. Ranma was even more surprised that he didn't notice the ninja by his stench.  
  
"Wow, you've gotten pretty good to sneak up on me!" Stated Ranma, a bit relieved that he now had a guide around the booby traps that was set by the booby in front of him, "say, how long have you been down here anyhow?" Ranma caught the look in Sasuke's eyes, and immediately realized, 'too long'.  
  
"Um, I don't know, my watch broke a long time ago." Sasuke's eyes narrowed in recognition, "Ranma?"  
  
"Yup, it's me," the pigtailed man answered, and blinked as Sasuke suddenly blurred from his vision. Ranma noted where the ninja's location was by the strong pressure he felt attached to his leg. "He, HEY! Leggo!"  
  
"Oh! Master Ranma! Please take me out of here! It's scary and filled with big rats!" wailed Sasuke as he fought Ranma's attempts to dislodge him.  
  
"Alright already! Just get offa me! I don't have time for this!"  
  
"You're right, we gotta get out of here immediately before 'it' discovers your here!"  
  
"Can't leave yet, there are two children stuck in here, and I'm not getting out of here without them being safe first."  
  
Sasuke released Ranma's leg, and responded with a serious that unsettled Ranma with its transition from the midget's previous mood, "Children? They shouldn't be down here, it's much too dangerous!"  
  
"Well, duh, and you're gonna help me find them if you wanna earn your ticket out of this fun house."  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Say, Sasuke, how come you never just up and left this place? The Kunos probably haven't seen you in years." Ranma asked over his headset to the Ranger Ship residing Sasuke.  
  
"[Uh, I would have liked to, Master Ranma, but 'it' doesn't like its 'peasants' to leave. Do be careful of that poison tipped spear.]"  
  
Ranma leapt over the missile, going into the splits in the air to completely avoid it, "thanks for the warni... WHOA!" Ranma just barely leapt straight up to avoid the almost humanoid mold shaped object lined with spikes close up on him from the sides  
  
"[Hmm, I don't recall that automated Iron Maiden positioned in that location before, must have slipped my mind.]"  
  
"Anything ELSE that may have slipped your mind?"  
  
"[Uh, well, you may want to be careful of the spontaneous flame throwers lined in that hall, they're extremely hazardous]"  
  
"Alright, something I'm more comfortable with... is that gas?"  
  
"[Of course, it wouldn't be all that hazardous if it were just the flame throwers..]"  
  
"Oh.... CRUD!" Ranma dodged back from a jet of flame that erupted from the side of the wall, and torched the stone of the other wall, causing it to erupt into a massive barrier of fire. Ranma then back flipped over a lower stream that torched the wall almost where he had been standing, causing another wall of flame to rise forth.  
  
Ranma stared at the corridor, an inferno contained in the gassed area, "Won't be able to go this way, I have to find another route."  
  
"[Oh my, I don't think that would be a good idea, the alternate path is much too dangerous]"  
  
"That's it, when I get back to the ship, you're a dead little ninja," growled Ranma, "I have no choice, I have to find the other two children, and their ca... cat. I promised Ukyo."  
  
"[Ukyo, Master Ranma? But I thought she die...]"  
  
A Sasuke's voice suddenly became muffled, as if someone's had came over his vocal orifice, "[Er, Ranma, you want I should come down there and help ya, I mean it's not like you need me to watch your back, but I couldn't hurt, si?]"  
  
"I appreciate the offer, but I need you to keep him quiet for the time being, and you navigating me to any life signs that I'm closest to."  
  
"[Si, according to the map Sasuke laid out, go back, and then go to your left, there's another route to the first life sign you were heading for.]"  
  
Ranma turned back; carefully avoiding the areas he had already met traps in, and headed to his left. The Burning Ranger found himself understanding what Sasuke meant, as he ran the obstacle course taken right out of a Clive Barker fantasy. After much perseverance, he came upon the sound of a young boy crying. Ranma almost laughed at the predicament his rescuee was in, pinned by the back of his shirt, if it weren't for the fact that the boy was pinned by one of the poison tipped spears he had to deal with earlier.  
  
"Once I get out of here, this place is coming down," growled Ranma over the comm. unit as he approached the young boy. "Don't cry, I'm here to save you."  
  
The young boy stopped crying for a bit and looked up in surprise, "You're a Burning Ranger, a REAL Burning Ranger!  
  
"Just sit tight and I'll have you out of here," with that, Ranma reached into hidden weapons space and pulled out a few energy crystals, allowing them to swirl to his gloves and activate the teleport unit, sending the young boy to the Burning Ship.  
  
"[Good job, Ranma, you only have one more left, and she looks like she's just straight up ahead.]"  
  
"Okay, I'm on my way," Ranma dashed forward, relieved to find no traps had been set in the path he was taken, but on a deeper level found that slightly... disturbing. His gut feelings were confirmed when he felt *something's* aura, something HUGE, pass near him. Immediately after it's passing, the tunnel started shaking.  
  
"What was THAT," Exclaimed Ranma, slightly unnerved, "was that an Earthquake?"  
  
"[I'm suddenly reading another life pattern near you that remained undetected until now, and it is grande!]"  
  
"[Oh dear, I think it's found you...]" came Sasuke's concerned voice.  
  
"WHAT found me?"  
  
"[Mr. Green Turtle.]"  
  
"[Que? You saying that's a giant turtle, Tipo?]  
  
"Can't be, what ever that was is MUCH larger than Kodachi's pet alliga..." Ranma was cut off again by another quake, and barely dived forward into a large circular room as the tunnel started collapsing.   
  
Ranma turned back around and grimaced as he saw the tunnel way back completely blocked off, "Well, so much for heading back that way..." he commented to himself, then scoped out his surroundings. The room was completely circular, with a platform sitting in the middle of a moat that was almost as large as a lake around it with a bridge leading from the closed out tunnel to the platform, with two other bridges leading to other adjacent tunnels. Ranma spotted a balcony above one of the room exits, with a little girl holding a kitten and sitting rather nervously.  
  
Ranma put on his confident smile as he started to approach the little girl who was giving him worried looks, "You're a brave little girl, to sit tight up there until someone came to rescue you. Now if you'll just hold on I'll..." Ranma was cut off again as he felt that *huge* thing again, extremely close suddenly.  
  
"WATCH OUT!!!" screamed the girl as a massive reptilian tail, about the side of two long school busses jutted out of the water, crashing onto the bridge and breaking it down. Ranma turned to see a massive maw, the side of a dojo crunch onto the other remaining bridge, leaving Ranma stranded on the little island.  
  
"Tha-tha-THAT'S MR. GREEN TURTLE?!?!?" Ranma yelled incredulously as he found himself pointing and staring at a pair of slitted eyes as large as monster truck wheels glaring back at him, challenging him to make a move.  
  
Ranma decided to dash towards the girl, getting a running jump and enough momentum to carry him at least three fourths of the distance to the girl. Before he could leap, he darted back out of the way of a tail swipe that would have sent him crashing into the far wall, and probably through it.  
  
"Darn, I'm going to have to deal with the Gojira reject first," Grumbled Ranma, as he turned and threw a Mouku Takabisha at the monster's head. Mr. Green Turtle ducked under the water at a speed that belayed it's bulk, its swimming evoking tremors through out the room. Ranma followed the vibrations until he felt them suddenly travel off, then head back at an amazing speed, his eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.  
  
The martial arts master leapt straight up in time to miss a flying dinosaur of an alligator jump from the water, and land back in at the other side of the round platform, and catching a bit of the spray from it's leap, changing him into her.   
  
"I'm not going to be able to do anything before it gets me at this rate," Ranma groused, when the giant reptile repeated the same attack, without the swimming start.  
  
Ranma let out a startled squawk as she turned and instinctively fired his pulse gun into the open mouth bearing on her, and jumped out of the way, she noted with a bit of satisfaction the alligator suddenly thrashing in the air as if in pain before landing in the water again.  
  
Ranma's small celebration didn't last long as she was suddenly fighting to keep her balance as the whole place started shaking, and then found herself dodging falling debris. Once it stopped, Mr. Green Turtle's eyes rose out of the water, staring defiantly back at it's intended victim. Ranma refused to show any fear as she threw another Mouku Takabisha at the yellow orbs watching him. Once again the reptile ducked back into the water, and Ranma barely managed to back flip over a tail swipe that went over the whole platform.  
  
Ranma felt the tremors of her opponent swimming away and the back, and braced herself. Once again Mr. Green Turtle launched itself from the water, aiming to swallow the Burning Ranger whole. Ranma fired a Mouku Takabisha, and her pulse gun right into the creature's mouth, causing it to thrash around in the air again before it landed in the water.  
  
The pattern was repeated twice more, the quakes and the suicide leaps, each time Ranma getting a shot in, "I'm hurting it, but this is getting me nowhere, it's not giving me time to give it a big enough shock to it's system."   
  
The Reptile changed tactics as it climbed halfway onto the platform, it's tail reaching around to the back, trying to catch it's intended meal from behind and snapping at it from the front. Ranma dodged easily as her grin grew wider, and her confidence grew, and grew, and grew...  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Sasuke and Emmanuel listened intently the battle being waged, both silently and anxiously awaiting the conclusion. Suddenly, both snapped back as a large *BOOM* came from the comm. and from all around them. The tremors were felt even in the hovering Burning Ship as the ground ruptured, and a large unconscious alligator flew out of the ground and landed on it's back dizzy.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
  
"An alligator that can control it's ki?" a now male Ranma asked incredulously, if he hadn't been there to see it...  
  
"[Yes, I was training my dear beloved Mr. Green Turtle in it's own life force control, he is very bright you understand.]" stated a regal and more maturely poised Kodatchi.  
  
"Yes, I can see that, even formed a battle attack plan against me," the Ranger mentioned with a bit of awe in his voice, "anyhow, I understand you will be around to pick him up?"  
  
"[Correct, he's always listened to his mother, and I suppose the little girl's likeness to me is what kept her alive. Me and a crew will be by to take my dear long lost baby off your hands.]" Kodatchi turned towards Sasuke on the monitor before speaking, "[loyal Sasuke, we had missed you, and feared the worst when we couldn't find you. Understand that you are welcome back to the services of the Kunos whenever you like.]"  
  
"I wasn't away I had ever left your service, mistress," replied the short ninja.  
  
Kodatchi gave him a satisfied nod before the screen blinked her image away. Once Ranma, Sasuke, and Emmanuel were alone, Ranma turned with a stern look towards the newly reinstated Kuno family retainer, "Now, what was that you mentioned about Ryoga earlier?" 


	6. Cut Scene 2; The Calm Before...

Ranma/ Burning Rangers  
Burning Sky  
Cut scene 2; 'The calm before...'  
  
  
  
"Hey Ranma, tried the punch lately?"  
  
Ranma's face colored as red as her dress at the taunt, and glared at her wife, "Nabiki, dear, they seem to recognize me after all," she stated in an aggravated, yet calm voice.  
  
"Hmm, so they do, not surprising since both your forms are so well known," Nabiki mock-mused.  
  
"And you hadn't thought about this before?" Onna-Ranma asked somewhat incredulously.  
  
"All that matters is you hadn't, and we're here now," Nabiki's mischievous smile partially offset Ranma's agitation, but for a moment...  
  
"Mr., er, Mrs. Saotome, we gonna get a free show again?"  
  
"I'll just remind you that my offer still stands..."  
  
"Is that a tear away dress?"  
  
"The girls got a thrill last time, how about entertaining us guys now?  
  
"...do bacheleorette parties?"  
  
"Nabiki, please have the mercy to allow me to just die right here and now," as red as Ranma's face was at the moment, a potential aneurysm my just grant her wish.  
  
"Sorry, Ranma-baby, not until you at least meet Dr. What's-his-face, and give me a few dances."  
  
Nabiki/s double meaning was lost on Ranma, "Uh, Nabiki, aren't you a little embarrassed to dance with me as a woman? I mean there may be people who don't know around here, after all..."  
  
"Married for eight years, and you ask me that now?" questioned Nabiki with a half lidded stare, before her expression became cheery again, "besides, it just means I get to lead."  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Ah, Mr. Landman, Ms. Lane, how honored I am that the Burning Rangers were able to make attendance," proclaimed Dr. Kimson as he heartily greeted Big, arm and arm with Courtney."  
  
"We're glad to be here, I understand everything passed first tests with no ill or adverse effects."  
  
"Pish posh, that was the limited test over the Arctic, and over a limited range. This will be a test in itself, though I am confident that everything will be fine."  
  
"Your confidence is comforting, doctor, if everything succeeds, weather related accidents will be a thing of the past, I'm looking forward to the lightened workload myself."  
  
"Indeed," exclaimed the good professor, "this development will save many lives to come, and lead into other developments. Imagine a Stormwatch over Mars, allowing us to cultivate and terra-form..."  
  
"Kinda ambitious there," interrupted Courtney, who was becoming duly bored with the conversation, "excuse me, but I think I see Ranma stripping again, or something..."  
  
"Well, shove a few credits down his thong for me while you're at it," chuckled Big, "anyhow, what were you saying about Mars?"  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Hiya cutie, Nabiki-baby, enjoying yourselves?" asked the brunette Burning Ranger as she met up with her teammate and wife.  
  
"Just peachy," muttered Ranma, "between my hose trying to ride up and the requests for 'performances', everything is just dandy."  
  
"Well, it would be more interesting than having to listen to the snobs and bigheads around here, sure you're not up to it? We can make it a double, if Nabiki joins in, a triple feature."  
  
"Not EVEN funny, girlfriend," snapped Nabiki, "I'll only show my assets for top dollar, and I get top billing too."  
  
"You two, quit it. I'd like to get through this night with as little embarrassment as possible."  
  
"Just not possible," remarked her wife, "after all, you 'are' Ranma; embarrassing situations just seem to be attracted to you as much as water.  
  
"Well, as long as it's only a minor situation. Have you been listening to these people, I heard a couple of them almost suspecting this place was gonna crash and burn."  
  
"I sure hope not," added Courtney, "I'm nervous enough as it is, in this huge floating potential catastrophe, darn, I'm not making myself feel any better."  
  
"Try not to think about it, this place had been tested, and from what I hear we have nothing to worry about,"  
  
"Wow, can I borrow some of your confidence, Nabiki, I could sure use it right now."  
  
"Only for a fee," stated Ranma, causing a few giggles from her fellow teammate and wife.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Ah, yes, the reputed Ranma Saotome, and lovely wife, I thank you for attending. I'm afraid my greetings will have to be cut short, since it is almost time."  
  
"That's okay, I'm honored to meet you too, mebbe I'll catch you later then, doctor?"  
  
"I would enjoy that very much, I'm also interested in hearing about your curse. You're the only one outside your tribe of Amazons that is known living proof that magic exists."  
  
"Yah," Ranma started nonchalantly, "I guess. I don't make a big fuss of it nowadays."  
  
"I have some theories of what your curse is, I am under the belief that this 'magic' is just science tempered with ignorance. If you would be so kind as to subject to a few tests, we may be able to find out many things."  
  
"Er, I'm not too keen on being prodded and stuff, but I'll think about your offer. I don't wanna cure though, I kinda have an obligation to keep it now."  
  
"I heartily understand, well, it's time for the ceremony, once again it was an honor to talk with you."  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Welcome, esteemed members of the global community. For years mankind has been subjected to the whims of nature; temperamental and unpredictable shifts in weather patterns enforced with furious might has caused much in the way of property damage and lives. Today we..."  
  
"Yawn, wake me up when he's done," snorted Ranma, having already been well bored at the greeting."  
  
"Ranma, what was that you said about embarrassing yourself? Well that goes double for me, so stay awake," Nabiki scolded, then turned to nervously smile at the various people looking in their direction with a bit of scorn.  
  
"Sorry," replied Ranma sheepishly, "but you know how much I wanna be here, in fact, I gotta go use the facilities, be right back in a sec."  
  
"Oh no you don't, you already went, remember? So just sit tight and suffer through it."  
  
Ranma grumbled, and begrudgingly turned back to listen to the speech. Fortunately, it was reaching its conclusion.  
  
"So, it is my esteemed pleasure, that I bring before you, Stormwatch's first official landmark operation."  
  
With that, the positively glowing professor gestured towards the team positioned in the control booth to begin the activation protocols, causing a low humming to begin, and grow as power flourished through out the massive airborne station. After 12 minutes, it could be seen that the clouds outside the thick plate windows began to disperse below them. Several oohs and aahs arose from the crowd, then a light applauding began, the whole time the good doctor soaking up the praise for his greatest creation.  
  
"I must admit, I am impressed," commented Big, "and nothing's happened. I think we can rest easy now."  
  
"Good, can we go home now, these pantyhose itch"  
  
"Shut up Ranma, you promised you'd stay and talk with Dr. Kimson a bit more, remember?"  
  
"Darn it, Nabiki, can't I just call him or something, I..." Ranma looked past her wife towards the professor on the platform control deck, looking slightly flustered, "hey, I wonder what's going on up there."  
  
Nabiki, Ranma, Big, and Courtney approached the deck, Dr. Kimson turning towards the group with a smile that was obviously strained, "Oh, hello again, is there something you can do, er, I can do for you?"  
  
"Um, what's up?" Ranma didn't feel like beating around the bush.  
  
"Nothing, just a slight fluctuation, operation at this large of scale just needs to be slightly tweaked, nothing to be alarmed about."  
  
"Sir, we're still powering up 56% faster than we're supposed to, soon we're gonna be approaching danger levels," yelled one of the crew on the control deck, "it, it's rising still, 64%, 69..."  
  
"I'm going to assume that's NOT a good thing," commented Nabiki.  
  
"Engage minimum activities, then isolate where the fluctuation is originating from," commanded Kimson, trying to remain calm.  
  
Several crewmembers started typing on their consoles, one by one their faces became shocked then grave, "We've been sabotaged.."  
  
"WHAT?!?" Dr. Kimson himself walked to one of the terminals, noting the simple prog. scrolling 'Down with Stormwatch.' "h...how?"  
  
"So we get a bit of bad weather worldwide, what's the big deal?" questioned Ranma nervously, even she knew there was much more to it.  
  
"I don't think that's the real problem, Ranma," voiced Big.  
  
The doctor was becoming more ashen by the moment, after a few gulps, he replied, "You are... right to be concerned. If we can't bring everything back to level soon, it will be a meteorological catastrophe."  
  
"You're talking really big storms then," Nabiki asked with a slightly shaking voice.  
  
"Have you heard of the term, supercanes? Before prehistoric times, it was said that while the earth was still shaping itself, massive hurricane storms that riddled the continents with winds rivaling those of tornados. One of Stormwatch's responsibilities was to help control the phenomenon of Weather fatigue through meteorlogic regulation. If Stormwatch isn't stopped..."  
  
"OUTSIDE!!!" Nabiki screamed, pointing to the windows almost hysterically. Worried murmurs from the other guests could be heard barely over the building turbulence of weather. The clouds were back, thicker and darker than before, and moving much more rapidly than they should be, the whole floating complex started trembling slightly.  
  
"If it isn't stopped, the world will again, after millions of years, be swallowed by supercanes," finished Dr. Kimson tiredly.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Below Stormwatch, the Burning Ship was beginning to get rocked with waves.  
  
"Honestly, I don't know why you insisted on fishing with all this cold water about," griped Emmanuel, being interrupted during "Santo vs the Vampire Women".  
  
"Quack!"  
  
"Just chill, esse, I don't speak mandarin duck." Mousse glared at his teammate as he was changed from waterfowl to human.  
  
"Your puns are almost as bad as Ranma's. What happened? The sky was clear earlier, now it's clouded up."  
  
"Ah, probably them showing off their new toy up there. I'll check to see if it's clearing up now." the Hispanic turned on the outside viewer, and went pale, "Madre de Dios."  
  
Mousse approached, and the sight caused a similar ailment in him, "Big, Big come in. What is going on up there?"  
  
"[Mousse, we have a mission....]" 


	7. Stage 4; Burning Sky

Ranma/Burning Rangers  
Burning Sky Stage 4  
"Burning Sky"  
  
  
"[Big, we made it through the turbulence and ready to transport]"  
  
"Okay Mousse stand ready," replied Big, "Professor, what do we need to do to stop Stormwatch?"  
  
"Uh, first we'll need to manually override the levitation and propulsion systems, after that, we can shut down Stormwatch's Weather Regulations systems. It would not do to shut everything down and send everything crashing into the ocean. As much water as this station can displace and at the velocity it would hit, the effects would be catastrophic."  
  
"Sir, the virus has commandeered all system controls from the deck, we can't do anything from here."  
  
"Then we'll need to get to the secondary engineering deck and shut it down."  
  
"Negative, Professor, the emergency security shutters have activated, we're trapped in this room for the time being."  
  
"Perhaps our teleporter would be able to get you there," offered Big.  
  
"[No, it won't, I'm having a problem as it is just reading you guys in there. Teleporting anyone around with all this weather and magnetic interference is not gonna work]" stated Emmanuel.  
  
"Darn, well is there any way, and I mean ANY way, we can get to that room?" Asked Ranma.  
  
"There are a series of ducts that can be accessed from the other side of the station, but they barely would fit anyone into them."  
  
"Mousse, looks like you're gonna be the one to do it, can you handle it?"  
  
"[I am prepared, Ranma.]"  
  
"Well, this should be cake then," replied Ranma with heavy relief in her voice.  
  
"No, there's still the problem of the virus to contend with. Even after we switch all controls over to the other deck, who's to say it won't just take over there also?" Asked Nabiki.  
  
"Perhaps... perhaps the virtual maintenance interface, yes that could work!"  
  
"What is it, Doctor?" Questioned Big.  
  
"I designed a virtual reality interface for any non-physical problems that may arise. All system functions take a virtual form there in interpretation to whoever had entered it. The Virus would not be any different."  
  
"Understood," replied the team leader, "Ranma, Courtney, both of you try to get through those shutters and gather anyone who was trapped in other areas."  
  
"No," countered Ranma.  
  
"What? Ranma this..."  
  
"Listen, you have the heaviest artillery of all of us, getting through those doors would work better for you. I'm trained to move at the speed of thought, I'm the better choice to go in."  
  
"Ranma..." breathed Nabiki, seriously worried for what her husband is volunteering for.  
  
"I... okay Ranma, you do that. Just be careful"  
  
"Gotcha, now how do I get hooked up into this giant video game?"  
  
"Emmanuel, dock in the open area away from as much of the winds as possible. We'll meet you there to pick up the equipment."  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Stage 4; Part 1  
  
"[Emmanuel, get as close as you can to the location listed on the map, and then let Mousse go,]"  
  
"Gotcha, Emmanuel, out," the Hispanic replied, before turning to his teammate, "Hold tight, Mousse, this is gonna be a bumpy ride."  
  
The Burning Ship's thrusters ignited, and pulled down range from their position. From the weather patterns, starting their part from where there were was not an option, with the winds impeding their path most from that angle.  
  
The burning ship quickly circled around the massive space station for the point where it would be best to enter with the least turbulence.  
  
"Here we go." Thrusters roared in challenge, increasing the velocity of the Burning Ship. Not more than a few seconds, Manuel tightly veered to the side, and then rose. Not too long after, a violent shake came over the craft.  
  
"Shoot, turbulence pockets all over the place," The Hispanic announced, looking at the enhanced visuals. Seeming miniature vortexes riddled their path; the dramatic weather restructuring being centered around the massive floating complex being the reason. Not only that, debris was being shaken from the structure, and held aloft by the violent winds that crisscrossed around him. Emmanuel steeled himself for she fantastic flying.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Stage 4; Part 2  
  
Big raised his gun and fired two shots, causing the steel doors to buckle then fall.  
  
"Who's there? Help! HELP!" a voice cried out from the wreckage around them.  
  
"Hold on, I'll be there in a second," Big shouted, lifting piles of massive debris out of the way. He kept a level of confidence that made him renowned among his teammates, but inside he was despairing at the amount of damage that was about. How many people may have been trapped under it?  
  
"Burning Rangers! Thank God!" The woman cried out when she caught sight of the massive African.  
  
"Relax, Ma'am, we'll have you out, but you're only going to be teleported to the main room, not off the station.  
  
"WHY NOT?" the woman yelled in panic, not wanting to be aboard the flying deathtrap anymore. Big couldn't answer as he teleported the woman to relative safety.  
  
"Courtney, how is everything going for you?"  
  
"[Not so good,]" Courtney stated in a somber voice over the comm. link, "[found quite a few people here heavily injured. Hopefully someone there has a lot of med experience, this is really starting to AAAAHHH!!!!]"  
  
"Courtney, COURTNEY!" Big shouted over his link, fearing the worst.  
  
"[I-I'm okay, but I need to build more energy for my shield. Fire's broken out here.]"  
  
"Great Scott, if that fire spreads..." Big didn't finish, as several years of experience kicked in, causing him to flip back from the sudden eruption, he had been to preoccupied to notice the temperature rising.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Stage 4, Part 3  
  
"Now, just relax, and it will seem like you're falling asleep," One of the doctor's associates stated with a calm voice to the pigtailed woman.  
  
"Okay, okay, just hurry up and let me save the world, alright?" Ranma snapped.  
  
The doctor found Ranma's banter a bit refreshing, considering the circumstances, and pressed a button on the side of the console. The headdress on Ranma's head started a whining pitch, and Ranma drifted off into unconsciousness.  
  
Ranma looked around, finding herself a him, and in his Burning Ranger uniform. It was like he was floating in a massive cylinder that rose farther than he could see, and was easily the size of a stadium. The walls looked like they were made of a giant computer motherboard, the wires flowing with a light akin to molten rock. A few seconds later, Ranma's feet were on terra firma, puzzling him a bit. His puzzlement was offset by the sight that appeared before him...  
  
Furinkan High School...  
  
On fire...  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
  
The Burning Ship lifted up slightly higher to avoid an invisible vortex, and then pulled to the side to avoid a flat panel of metal. Inside the ship, Emmanuel's face was completely concentrated on the task, using extremely conservative movements to avoid any disaster. He pushed down on the controls slightly, causing the ship to drop slightly, and fired the ship's lasers to clear a piece of wreckage out of the way. The ship pitched to the side, avoiding another threat to its safety, and lifted at an angle away from another vortex. Emmanuel's crack flying almost had them at their destination, before a stray piece of debris caught him blindsided.  
  
"What happened?" Mousse said, concerned.  
  
"We took a hit, but it didn't do much damage, now chill so I can fly, vato." Emmanuel couldn't afford to be distracted, the damage was a bit heavier than he was going to tell Mousse, as he now fought the ship from slightly veering off to the side. Also another hit like that would probably take them off of commission.  
  
Using a technique that Ranma had taught him, Emmanuel cleared his mind, finding his center, and focused on the task at hand even more so than before.  
  
The ship rolled and pitched through all obstacles, towards its destination.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"The situation has just gotten worse..." Courtney stated grimly over the comm. link.  
  
Big leapt to the top of a pile of debris to avoid a burst of flame, "I'm listening."  
  
"People, dozens of them, and the fire's enclosing on us. I'll have plenty of crystals from the oncoming fire, but I can't teleport them all by myself in time. Good news is they're telling me that they had pulled everyone they saw into the room with them, so there shouldn't be anymore stragglers around."  
  
"Good, I got this area clear, I'll head over there as fast as possible."  
  
Big fired his pulse rifle at the flame, causing the energy to reconvert into the crystals used to power his personal shield and teleporter, as he was going to need plenty. He jumped down once the path was clear, and made a mad dash towards his teammate's area. Belaying his size, Big deftly somersaulted over another ignition of flame, and before landing, ignited his jump pack, to glide him over debris that would have hindered him. He found the way he came a dead end; blocked by incredible amounts of debris that had fallen. Not letting that hinder him, Big braced himself, and powered up his cannon.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma ran into the front door, instinctively knowing that what he was looking for was somewhere around here.  
  
He rushed through the halls, darting around the fire and wreckage as if he were born for this mission. As if in defiance, the flames became thicker to the point of almost overwhelming. Ranma maneuvered through the obstacles, his aura of cold in full activity to keep him from feeling the heat. He knew though that it would not protect him from the intenseness if he were to come in direct contact.  
  
Ranma made it to the stairs, and leapt up to the second floor, "Door's jammed," Ranma noted out loud, before also noting the flame from the first floor bursting up the vertical hall. Ranma quickly leapt to the third floor and opened the door with ease.  
  
He was glad to note this floor wasn't as intensely thick with flame, but it seemed to lead him on a path. Ranma obliged, running down the hall in the way the flames demanded, and found himself at a certain room that had changed his fate. The door began to open on it's own accord.  
  
"Happy to see us, Airen?" A warped but familiar voice, like she was gargling on molten rock, called out smugly. Ranma's heart nearly stopped at the sight of the figure of Shampoo sculpted from flame.  
  
He was so shocked, that he almost didn't react when Shampoo charged him with her bonbori forward.  
  
Ranma back flipped from the strike, and instincts told him to duck, quickly.  
  
"She meant *all* of us, Ranchan," an imitation of Ukyo brought her battle spatula of flame to bear.  
  
"U-Ukyo?" Ranma muttered, dreading who was next to come.  
  
"BAKA!" Ranma grunted from the heavy kick to his side, sending him crashing into a wall, "You left yourself wide open, you should always be on guard."  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma's body jerked in the stasis bed.  
  
"What? What's happening?" Nabiki said with extreme worry. The scientist that had laid Saotome down into the chamber, turned from where he was looking at the monitors; having been appointed to another task, "He's run up against some opposition, but there's nothing I can really do about it now, I'm afraid."  
  
"LIKE HECK!" Nabiki shouted with all the fury she could muster, "You're going to help my husband, or so help me..."  
  
"[Me and the duck arrived at checkpoint; Ducky's entering the corridor entrance now,]" an indignant quack sounded over the comm. The scientist had been stationed to help direct Mousse to his destination, and couldn't get up from his post now. He looked worriedly between the angry wife, and his boss.  
  
"Go, Mrs. Saotome can take you place here," Dr. Kimson stated, taking Nabiki's hand and leading her to where the other scientist had been sitting. "The path is already highlighted, all you have to do is tell him which direction to turn."  
  
Nabiki nodded and put on the headset, "Mousse, you read me?"  
  
"[Quack?]" The duck's voice enquired.  
  
"Yup, I'm going to be your navigator for this flight."  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
  
Big arrived to assist Courtney, trading off their tasks with complete competence. One would contain the fire as much as possible, and build up as many crystals as they could, then switch off once the other announced that they had run out and needed to charge for more.  
  
Currently Courtney was the one busy teleporting while Big was stocking up on crystals and keeping the flames at bay.  
  
"It's starting to get thick here," Big announced, finding it extremely difficult to keep up with the encroaching fires.  
  
"We only have a few more to get out of here," The brunette woman called back, teleporting another one to safety.  
  
Big leapt back, forced to give more ground to the fire, "Time is running OUT!"  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma pulled back from Ukyo's swing, then rotated and did a half gator over Akane's high roundhouse kick. As he landed beside his once love, Ranma spun out of the way of Shampoo's bonbori. Knowing they weren't real, Ranma started to retaliate, sending a roundhouse kick to Shampoo's back, causing her to tumble her and Akane onto the floor.  
  
"Since when Airen hit womens?" Shampoo chided obnoxiously. Ranma held his pose, intending to not let them know how much pain that kick caused him, it was like kicking solid molten rock. In fact, every time they had touched him, had left him with a notable impression that any contact with them was folly.  
  
"Looks like Ranma honey's lost a bit of chauvinism somewhere, maybe Nabiki had something to do with it," the fake Ukyo enquired snidely.  
  
"Ranma, how could you? WITH MY OWN SISTER! YOU PERVERT!" Ranma did the leaping splits over the psuedo-Akane's charge, his mind racing through battle plans. He may have known they were real, but they still had a psychological advantage, plus his not being able to touch them, lest he receive punishment from the contact. Finally, they were like super enhanced versions of themselves, much stronger and faster than before.  
  
Ranma considered his options, darting back from another one of Ukyo's attacks and back flipping over Shampoo, how tried to catch him from behind. The hall was too narrow for the Hiryuu Shoten Ha, the Gachigachi Ha would leave him open completely to an attack from the other two if he were to attempt it on one, same with the Mouku Takabisha, and all of his other attacks wouldn't be focused enough. One attack did come to mind, an unfinished one, but it may work.  
  
"Airen, please be still so Shampoo can kill."  
  
"Ranchan, it's not very sporting of you if we can't touch you."  
  
"RANMA! STAND STILL AND FIGHT ME FOR REAL!"  
  
All three girls attacked simultaneously from three different directions. Ranma waited for the last moment, then leapt straight into the air, and inverted himself just in time to see the girls stop just short of crashing into each other, and plant his feet against the ceiling.  
  
"OBIKI KIREME REVISED...." Ranma shouted out, gathering oxygen towards him for fuel, and pushing off the hall ceiling as hard as he could, attempting to build enough friction for the next move, "REVERSE GREAT FIRE BREAKER!!!!!"  
  
Ranma hit the ground, and instead of a nimbus of air spreading out, an explosion of flame erupted that was so potent, it robbed the digital oxygen from around his immediate area. Opposing fire couldn't find fuel it needed to continue burning, and was snuffed out in the void of air.  
  
Ranma sat up, barely touched by the explosion he had caused, and looked at the stone statues of the three girls, each frozen in place and in poses attempting to protect themselves. A lone flicker of flame opposed Ranma; the pigtailed man smirked, and aimed his index finger at it. A blue beam of ki shot out, snuffing the last of his nemesis.  
  
Suddenly the building started to shake heavily, and Ranma ran to the window to jump out. Much to his chagrin, he saw that the ground had fallen from under the building. There was only one direction to go.  
  
Ranma grabbed onto the outside wall, pounding his fists into it to make footholds, as he climbed to the roof. Once he had made it, and climbed over the security fence, Ranma saw it.  
  
The large seemingly mechanical Amoeba waved its digital tentacles about, before suddenly spinning on its axis. As it spun, fire from the mockup of Furinkan High drew up to it and gathered around what was most likely the virus. Once it was a sphere of fire, it congested into a humanoid shape.  
  
"RANMA! PREPARE TO DIE!!!!!"  
  
Ranma focused his cold aura as tight and strongly as he possibly could.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"[Quack?]" The duck enquired, arriving to another fork in the path.  
  
"Go left, then up," Nabiki replied, watching Mousse's progress on the monitor. The little red blip complied to the orders given.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Mousse weaved in and out, just as it was in the Burning ship; debris was falling from the ceiling in attempts to impede his progress. Far accustomed to maneuvering in flight in his duck form, the cursed Burning Ranger deftly dodged the obstacles.  
  
"[Go Right,]" Nabiki's voice said over the comm. Mousse went left.  
  
"[YOUR OTHER RIGHT, YOU BLIND IDIOT!!!]"  
  
Mousse gave an indignified quack, before giving a few more quacks to explain the situation.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Nabiki understood the Morse code Mousse was quacking in, and sure enough, noted the panel was showing a blockage in the original route she was sending the duck on.  
  
"Oh, great," Nabiki mumbled, gaining a worried quack over the comm. link. Nabiki looked at the display panel, noting the final location had more than one way out of it. Mrs. Saotome followed the complex maze of small corridors, and smiled, "Don't worry, just take another left here..."  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Instead of attacking, the fire sculpted Ryoga leapt onto the floating puzzles that suddenly appeared in the air. He leapt to higher ones, and the ones he had already been on started to pull apart, like two rigid pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Ranma gave chase, and just in time, as the roof started to crumble under his feet.  
  
The first few platforms Ranma barely managed to keep himself on, and closed in on the virus. Once at a sufficient height, the virus turned and dropped down, attacking Ranma with a falling ax kick. Ranma had no choice but to bring his forearm to block, and strangely noticed that it didn't really hurt when the leg of molten rock connected with him. Ranma retaliated with an uppercut with his free hand to Ryoga's jaw.  
  
Ryoga reeled back, and then jumped to a higher platform. Ranma quickly followed in pursuit, this time catching up. The fire creation spun with a back fist, which Ranma ducked under, then kicked Ryoga in the ribs. It may be faster than the true Ryoga was, and possibly stronger, but it fought with a skill level Ranma recalled his once rival to have possessed.  
  
It couldn't defeat him then, either.  
  
The fake Ryoga almost slide off the edge of his part of the platform, but quickly fought for balance, and leapt to a higher level. A blur passed by the retreating virus, landing on the platform above it. Before Ryoga could gain footing on the platform, Ranma's double fisted blow pounded it down, intending to send it into the abyss below.  
  
The virus did fall, for a few feet, before it changed form.  
  
Ranma stared at the minataur with crane wings, an eel for a tail, and horns. The fire Tarou charged At Ranma; crashing through the platform he was standing on and shattering it like glass. Ranma had managed to leap to another one just in time, watching as the virus flew upwards to crash through the one he was standing on.  
  
Ranma hopped right before Tarou went through it, then stomped down as hard as possible. Ranma used the momentum from slamming his heel into Tarou's head to catapult him to another platform.  
  
The beast shook it off, and was enraged. It flew off into the distance, and suddenly flew back, charging after the Burning Ranger. Ranma timed it just right, leaping up to Tarou's back, and slamming both feet into him, again launching to another platform.   
  
Again the creature wailed and flew off into the distance. Ranma leapt up to another platform, once the one he was standing on began to dissipate. This time Tarou charged at him with both fists forward, ready to intercept Ranma if he attempted the same stunt again. Ranma didn't leap this time; he braced himself, with his fist at his side for a straight reverse punch.  
  
The mock Tarou was sent crashing into the cylinder's walls, imbedding into it. Once Ranma thought the virus was out, it transformed again. This time into a large bird of flame, that then again reshaped itself into a man with wings.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Okay, they're clear!" Big shouted, transporting the final rescuee out of danger.  
  
"Good, we just have one problem now," Courtney said nervously, fighting as hard as possible against the flame, "how are 'we' going to get out of here?"  
  
Big then realized that the fire had blocked all the potential exits, and was quickly swallowing ground around them.  
  
Big lifted his gun, and started charging it, aiming for one of the exits of the room, "Keep in close to me, and we'll get out of this yet..."  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"[QUACK!]" Mousse said, elated over the comm. He had made it to the secondary control room. Stormwatch was shaking much more heavily than before, and thick and dark storm clouds rolled around the outside of the glass panels.  
  
"Mousse made it!" Nabiki exclaimed.  
  
"Good, now have him transmit the priority controls over to us."  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Mousse splashed himself with the hot water container he had stored in weapons space and quickly dressed himself. He attempted to do what was needed.  
  
"We have a problem..."  
  
"[Huh? What?]" Professor Kimson's voice enquired, a bit worried.  
  
"I think the virus is locking me out here, we're gonna have to wait until Ranma secures everything." Mousse then mumbled to himself, "Come on, Ranma."  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
The construct of Saffron glided up to Ranma, and looked at him with a smirk. Ranma said nothing, as he faced down his opponent's new form.  
  
As if on a silent command, Ranma leapt to a higher platform while Saffron flew upwards. This time Ranma kept moving, while Saffron flew around his target, lobbing fireballs. Ranma knew that he couldn't touch the virus this time; its aura of heat was almost suffocating even from a distance. Fortunately, Ranma had invented a counter against Saffron's attacks that was similar to what he used on Saffron before. The Hiryuu Hyou Toppa.  
  
Ranma moved his fist in a tight circle that became a spiral, and before the fireball impacted with him, his fist shot out into the ball of flame. A small funnel of wind erupted from the impact, and it connected with the mock Saffron, blowing a bit of his flame out, and showing a bit of the true virus.  
  
Ranma blinked as it was quickly covered by flame, then came to a realization.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Huh? How peculiar," The scientist watching over Ranma's prone form stated.  
  
"What's wrong with my husband?" Nabiki stated with heavy concern, before seeing Ranma-chan's face. Ranma was smirking.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma kept jumping from platform to platform, dodging fireballs and waiting for just the right one. Saffron complied, and Ranma used his new Hiryuu Shoten Ha counter again, blowing off a bit of flame. This time, before it could recover the exposed spot, Ranma leapt after it, kicking it squarely in the exposed area.  
  
The disguised virus gave off a mechanical/animalistic wail as it covered the area it had been hit with by flame. This time it started throwing a higher barrage of fireballs. Ranma weaved in and out of them, while leaping from platform to platform before they weren't stable enough to stand on. Once again the opportunity arose, and Ranma countered again, immediately following up with a kick to the exposed area.  
  
It was extremely ticked now, as it flew up into the air above Ranma, and put it's hands together.  
  
"TENKA SHUNMETSU KOUKYUU DAN!" A massive fireball headed straight down for Ranma, and caught him flatfooted.  
  
The mock Saffron smirked, then grew shocked as it saw it's opponent hunched over, faintly glowing blue.  
  
"There is no way I can take another one of those hits," Ranma thought, hopping to another platform.  
  
"TENKA SHUNMETSU KOUKYUU DAN!" Saffron had the same suspicions. The second massive fireball impacted with the platform Ranma was on, and when the flames cleared, the pigtailed Burning Ranger was not there.  
  
"HEY! BIRDBOY!" Ranma shouted, on a platform near level with the fake Saffron. He had managed at the last second to slip through the platform's part just before the fireball impacted. In Saffron's distraction, Ranma circled around and to the side.  
  
"TENKA SHUNMETSU KOUKYUU DAN!" The fireball was fired straight at Ranma. Ranma jumped into the path of the fireball, his body horizontal and spinning on axis with his arm perpendicular, his fist held out and being brought closer to him.  
  
The fireball exploded on impact, and the explosion preceded a horizontal tornado that was heading straight for the virus. The massive winds blew all of the flames out, exposing the virus completely. Through the tornado came Ranma, almost seeming to surf the winds, with his hands at his side as if gathering something.  
  
"SHIN MOUKU TAKABISHA!" Ranma waited until he was close, and shoved his attack at point blank range into the virus. A moment lapsed, then the virus started to shatter like glass. It was finally destroyed.  
  
Suddenly the whole place began to shake, and the platforms below that had disappeared, were now reappearing and reassembling. Ranma looked up and saw the orange lights that lined the vertical corridor's walls were going out, the may not be a good sign.  
  
Ranma took his cue, and started to descend the platforms as rapidly as possible. He found himself on the school roof again, and ran into the roof's door. Ranma came to a grinding halt as he noted the surreal form the inside of the school took, more exits and paths to take than before.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Everything's back online!" a scientist exclaimed, as lights went on the control panels.  
  
"Oh no," the scientist monitoring Ranma whispered, before turning back to Nabiki, "The digital reality interface is collapsing, it's not even interpreting information it's receiving correctly."  
  
"Huh? What does that mean?" Nabiki was almost near hysterics, nobody found it in their hearts to answer her.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Ranma felt extremely lost as he rushed from door to door; window to window. Nothing seemed like an exit, and some seemed to get farther away as he approached him, like a dream of sorts.  
  
"Ranma, go left..."  
  
Ranma perked at the voice, "A... Akane?"  
  
"Are you deaf, idiot? I said go LEFT!"  
  
Ranma blinked, but complied. The corridor was almost to an end, "Ranma-honey, go right, then forward." Ranma smiled at his childhood friend's voice, obeying her orders.  
  
"Is Shampoo's turn to help beloved, yes?"  
  
Akane's voice sighed, "Yes, now just give him the directions."  
  
"Aiyah! Shampoo so happy to save airen life!" Ranma could almost hear her hopping from foot to foot, clapping her hands.  
  
"Get ON with it, you bimbo!" Ukyo's voice was less than amused at the other girl's antics.  
  
"Ranma go right!" Ranma complied, finding himself at a stairwell. He quickly descended to the bottom stairs, and opened the door to a hallway just as surreal as the last.  
  
"Now what?"  
  
"Ranma, go left." Ranma took Akane's directions, before hearing a voice stop him midway.  
  
"Airen now go left again."  
  
"HEY! It was MY turn, you hussy"  
  
"Nyeah!" Shampoo's raspberry to the deceased cook was her retort.  
  
"Come on you two, cut it out!" Akane tried to be the sensible one.  
  
"Uh, guys? Minor crisis here?" Ranma made mention, having reached the end of the hall he had turned down and had two directions to go down.  
  
"Oh, just keep your pants on, Ranchan, I gotta deal with the Bimbo..."  
  
"Shampoo no mind if Ranma drop pants..."  
  
"Oh, for Kami's sakes, go right!"  
  
"Akane no fun."  
  
"I don't want the idiot to die! That's all."  
  
"Shampoo think if airen die, he get to be with us."  
  
"SHAMPOO!" Three voices cried out in unison, Ranma's being one of them.  
  
"Mmm, Shampoo only thinking out loud..."  
  
Ranma saw down the hall what looked like to be the exit of the psuedo-Furinkan High, the lights down the end of the corridor were quickly blinking out behind him. He pushed himself faster.  
  
"Say Mousse hello for Shampoo!"  
  
"Are you ever gonna learn to speak Japanese correctly?" Ukyo asked, exasperated, "Take care Ranchan, I love you."  
  
"You better take care of my sister, or you're gonna get SUCH a pounding!" Akane stated firmly and threateningly, "And... I love you too."  
  
"Shampoo love you more than Violent girl and Spat..." That was as far as she got before the sounds of conflict came up.  
  
Ranma reached for the door, just as all the lights went out...  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
The man watching the monitor that displayed Ranma's readings paled. Nabiki noted the reaction.  
  
"What's wrong, she's safe now, right? She made it out, why isn't she waking up?"  
  
Big and Courtney had made it back, and were gently pulling Nabiki back.  
  
"Saotome-san..." Big started. Courtney's voice had caught, and she turned away so Nabiki couldn't see her tears.  
  
"[Hey, what's going on up there?]" Mousse asked over his comm. unit.  
  
"Ranma, he's..." Big didn't need to continue, and Mousse never gave a reply.  
  
"NO!" Nabiki shouted, in full-fledged hysterics, "HE'S RANMA SAOTOME! HE NEVER LOSES, HE, HE HAS TO..." Big firmly grabbed a hold of Nabiki. In the grasp of the large man, Nabiki broke down, "He, he can't be, not Ranma... not Ranma."  
  
One of the scientists started towards the control panel of the digital reality interface, and before she could open it up to remove the body, she let out a startled gasp.  
  
The lights of the pod started flashing all over, and Ranma's fist punched through the glass covering.  
  
"RANMA!" Nabiki shouted, completely elated. She almost fell to the ground, if not for big supporting her. The pigtailed woman sat up and smirked.  
  
"Interesting fact; didja know that you can use Ki to power electronics?"  
  
"Heh, never would have considered it," Big said with a smile of immense relief.  
  
Ranma looked straight at Nabiki, the redhead's smirk turning into a sincere and loving smile, "I made it back, Nabiki."  
  
"Welcome home," Mrs. Saotome replied. 


	8. Epilogue

Ranma/ Burning Rangers  
'Burning Sky'  
Epilogue  
  
  
  
Ranma crawled out of his tent, and walked to the front door and knocked, "Honey?"  
  
The pigtailed man's face drooped when T'chi Pei opened the door, "She's still mad, huh?"  
  
The Amazon nodded before replying, "What you do is very stupid, yes?"  
  
"I don't see why I'm gett'n blamed for this," Ranma replied, darkly. The girl nervously giggled in response.  
  
"Well, I no tell Nabiki you take bath, is okay?"  
  
"I guess," Ranma replied, walking into the house, before turning to reply, "Traitor." T'chi Pei scratched the back of her head with a sick grin on her face.  
____________________________________________________  
  
"Hey Pop," Ukyo whispered to his father, as he caught the pigtailed man sneaking to the bathroom.  
  
Ranma made note his son was whispering, "She really that mad?"  
  
"What did you do, Pop?" the little boy asked concerned.  
  
"It wasn't my fault!" Ukyo shrugged, smirked, and rushed into the bathroom past his father; making sure to lock the door behind him.   
  
"HEY!!!!" he screamed indignantly, not paying attention to the volume of his voice.  
  
"Saotome-san..."  
  
Ranma's pigtail stood at end at his wife's cold voice, "Er, I'm not really here dear, really! Uh, you're just... um... sleeping?" Ranma blinked prettily at his spouse.  
  
"What are you doing inside the house, Saotome-san?"  
  
"Coming to apologize?" Ranma asked hopefully. Nabiki shook her head, and pointed back out doors.  
  
Ranma sighed, and started back out, before turning to his wife at the top of the stairs, "I couldn't take the chance, you know that," he stated dejectedly.  
  
Nabiki almost softened, "You could have had one of the others..."  
  
"They don't have the experience," Ranma cut in, earning a hard and frosty glare from his wife. Ranma was getting used to the feeling of Deja vu that accompanied each one of these discussions.  
  
"You didn't need to risk yourself, one of them would had been there sooner."  
  
"The risk wasn't that big in the first place!" Ranma retorted, raising his voice a little. "Er, it didn't seem so, at least." he added sheepishly.  
  
"Ranma..." Nabiki started in a softer voice, her face growing a bit morose, "You said that I wouldn't have to worry anymore."  
  
"I... everyone else was occupied, I didn't see a reason to take them from their positions."  
  
"And it almost got you... it..." Nabiki's voice choked up, and she turned her head away so her husband couldn't see her tears. Ranma waited for his wife to regain her composure.  
  
"I'm sorry, really. I guess it was stupid of me." Ranma didn't dare ascend the stairs to comfort his wife just yet.  
  
"On Stormwatch, when I thought I had lost you," Nabiki began with a trembling voice, her and Ranma's conversation attracting the five Amazons to eavesdrop on the conversation with Ukyo at the door of the bathroom, "I don't, I didn't know how I... They said there wasn't anything that was going to happen to you!"  
  
"But I'm here, I'm still with you," Ranma replied gently, finally finding the courage to meet his love at the top of the stairs and embrace her to shield her from her worries, "I'm fine, Nabiki, with you and Ukyo. I'm fine."  
  
"Oh Gods, I don't ever want to feel that again," Nabiki whimpered into her husband's chest. The Amazons all had somber looks on their faces; they had been told of what happened, and how they almost lost their future tribe's leader.  
  
"Is not good if Amazons loose best Matriarch," Lei-woo Fa stated for all of them.  
  
"You, hush," Ranma commanded with an irritated voice, the Amazon shifted back nervously, "I told ya, I ain't goin' anywhere, and for the last time I AIN'T gonna be Matriarch!" Ranma stated adamantly. His loud outburst lightened the mood a bit.  
  
Nabiki let out a slight chuckle through her lessening sobs, "Ranma, I don't know what I'll do without you."  
  
"Here's hoping you never have to find out," the man in question replied seriously. Ranma then moved in for a kiss, which Nabiki accepted.  
  
Their brief moment of intimacy was interrupted by the sound of Ranma's pager.  
  
"Of all the..." Ranma departed from his wife and past the anxious looks of his trainees to the phone. He dialed the number and shouted, "WHAT?" A reply was given at the other end, according to Ranmas expression, "Couldn't someone else...?" As the conversation went on, Ranma's face grew less agitated and more serious. Finally, he turned a look to Nabiki that seemed to be asking permission.  
  
Mrs. Saotome smiled through her tear-streaked face, and gestured her head for him to go. Ranma smiled, and then took off, with the five Amazons in tow.  
____________________________________________________  
  
"We're over the drop zone now," Ranma-chan stated towards the view monitor. The Burning Ship was slightly rocking from the turbulence being created from the rising heat, but stable enough to proceed.  
  
"[Good,]" Lead Phoenix replied, "[We'll be on backup if you need help, but we don't have a full squad to take over for you, I'm afraid.]"  
  
"Don't worry about it, they're doing fine, and they're not as green as before."  
  
"[Alright then, I trust that *you'll* stay as navigator and not take an active part, this time?]"  
  
Ranma chuckled and scratched the back of her head, "Uh, Nabiki spoke to you?"  
  
"[Big, though I did also get a message from your wife,]" the cobalt blue-haired man stated with a smirk, "[Lead, out.]"  
  
"Okay girls, it's show time! Wa-fu, you take point," the Amazon nodded, "T'chi Pei, your providing rescue support for her, she'll clear the paths first so you can file everyone trapped to the safety rooms."  
  
"Okay." the girl in question replied.  
  
"Pai Lan, you take the forth entrance on the east side, and work your way towards the middle. Mai Ting, stay close to Lei-woo Fa, but keep to your own path," Ranma turned an irritated eye to Lei-woo, "It doesn't look like I'll be able to come and bail you out of trouble... this time. Don't touch anything that looks explosive, if you can."  
  
The girl was looking in any other direction but her mentor's.  
  
"Alright, now let's show them that the Burning Rangers Amazon Successor Squad has what it takes!"  
  
The doors of the Burning Ship opened, and the five newest additions to the Burning Rangers roster plummeted towards their latest mission. Their paraglides opened, reflecting the sunlight that cut through the billowing gray smoke and clouds, slowing their descent. As the light glistened from their wings, like angles of mercy descending to the fiery earth, their expressions were determined, yet carried a glimmer of hope of a bright and promising future.   
  
End. 


End file.
